Officials Confident of Security for Oscars : Movies: Despite threats of a disruption by gay and lesbian activists, Academy Awards executives say the show will run smoothly.

Threats by gay and lesbian activists to disrupt the Academy Awards ceremonies tonight have officials concerned, but security precautions at Los Angeles’ Music Center appear less stringent than those for last year’s show just weeks after the Gulf War.

Officials of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, sponsors of the awards, said Sunday they have taken precautions in case the activist organization Queer Nation follows through on threats to stage a protest disrupting the ceremonies that attract a television audience of 1 billion worldwide.

While they would not discuss details of their planned security, officials offered general assurances that all will go well.

Leaders of Queer Nation also would not discuss their plans, except to say they intend to hold a rally near the Music Center that could result in arrests. Queer Nation marchers interrupted a screening of nominated documentaries at the Directors Guild of America theater in West Hollywood on Saturday evening.

Despite the threats, Academy Awards guests are likely to find security measures more relaxed than at last year’s show, when concern focused on pro-Iraqi terrorism. Celebrities and Hollywood power brokers arriving at that Oscar show had to stroll through metal detectors before entering the auditorium.

While no decision has been made, academy officials indicated Sunday that they were leaning toward not using metal detectors this afternoon at the 64th annual ceremony. Moreover, an academy security spokesman said there was a smaller protective force on hand Sunday than on the day before the ceremony last year--evidence, he said, that all is under control.

“We always receive threats from many special interest groups at all functions, and we are prepared for it all,” said spokesman Lou Palumbo.

Similarly, Gil Cates, the show’s producer, minimized the threat of disruptions after reporters repeatedly pressed him.

“We’ll wait and see what happens,” Cates said. “I believe cooler heads will prevail.”

He left open the possibility that the television audience may witness a protest, saying show officials will not necessarily “cut to a commercial because of a disruption.”

Judy Sisneros of Queer Nation said the protest is being called to speak out against “Hollywood homophobia.” In particular, gay and lesbian activists are angry at what they say are negative depictions of homosexuals in such popular movies as “Basic Instinct,” “The Silence of the Lambs” and “JFK.” In some cases, Sisneros said, movie makers have deleted gay characters in adapting screenplays from books.

As for the protest, she said Queer Nation members will meet about three blocks from the Music Center and march to the auditorium.

“There is a plan for civil disobedience actions,” she said. As for the ceremony, she added that she is “hoping there will be disruptions, but I cannot say there will be for sure.”

Her comments came a day after a group of about 75 Queer Nation marchers barged into the Directors Guild headquarters. Michelangelo Signorile said he led about 15 sign-toting demonstrators into the building’s theater to protest the lack of a nomination for “Paris Is Burning,” a film about the lives of black and Latinos gays who frequent New York “drag balls.”

He spoke for about 10 minutes, he said, and received scattered applause when he finished and left the theater with the other demonstrators. Directors Guild officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.

* RELATED STORIES: D1, F1.