Gay Themes on PBS Draw Fire From All Sides : Television: The public network is providing program content information to local stations and edited or recut scenes of some shows, including one airing tonight.

Bruised from more than two years of steady attacks by political and religious conservatives about programming--particularly programming with gay or lesbian themes--producers and station executives attending this week’s annual meeting of the Public Broadcasting Service have held three separate seminars on how to deal with controversial material.

Taking some of its own advice beforehand, the public network attempted to forestall criticism of its broadcast of two gay- and lesbian-themed works this summer--including one tonight--by providing advance information to local stations about their content and by editing or recutting some scenes.

But in the process, PBS not only failed to silence the religious right--the Rev. Donald Wildmon began a national campaign against “The Lost Language of Cranes,” which airs at 10 tonight as part of the “Great Performances” series--but also angered some gay and lesbian leaders, who call the edits and extra attention homophobic.

In “The Lost Language of Cranes,” the story of a middle-aged married man who comes to terms with his own homosexuality after learning that his son is gay, PBS required the British filmmakers who produced it to make an American version, in which characters who were previously shown nude wore boxer shorts.

For “Portrait of a Marriage,” the story of a lesbian relationship between British novelist Vita Sackville-West and her girlhood friend Violet Trefusis, 34 minutes were edited from the original four-hour BBC production, which airs July 19 on “Masterpiece Theatre.” The scenes edited include a depiction of the women’s girlhood relationship, in which the young Vita dresses as a man and climbs into bed, fully clothed, with Violet.

In addition, a second American version--in which some partial nudity and a rape scene were edited out--was created for stations whose executives preferred an even more conservative presentation.

Both American versions also have an introduction that the British version didn’t have, in which “Masterpiece Theatre” host Alistair Cooke casts the relationship more as a dangerous interlude that threatens Sackville-West’s marriage to diplomat Harold Nicholson than as a grand passion.

“I’m appalled by this whole thing,” said Jehan Agrama, co-president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which monitors images of gays and lesbians in the media. “The edits and the offensive introduction by Cooke create the illusion that the relationship between these two women was an affair, perhaps a passing fancy, and it completely negates the fact that this was the love of both their lives.”

For his part, Wildmon wrote to every member of Congress and to churches and supporters throughout the nation, claiming that “public broadcasting is using tax dollars to promote homosexuality” and urging people to watch “Lost Language of Cranes” and then protest.

Wildmon, head of the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Assn., is recovering from a recent heart attack and was not available to be interviewed. However, he said in a press release that “the film suggests that the two men are clearly to be admired for their courage in outing themselves and taking pride in their homosexual lifestyle. I wonder if this is the kind of programming taxpayers want to give $1.1 billion to support”--a reference to the three-year appropriation bill for public television and radio that was recently passed by Congress.

John Grant, PBS vice president of scheduling and program information, defended the public network on both fronts. To Wildmon and like-minded critics, he said that it is part of PBS’ mission to present programs about all people in American society, including gays and lesbians. To the gay activists, he said that the edits were necessary to ensure that the programs made it to air at all.

“If we were homophobic, we would not put these shows on in the first place,” Grant said in an interview here. “The gay community is an element of the American culture, and our job is to represent all Americans.”

Grant said that the network was conceding to the wishes of some stations by providing alternative, edited versions of programs with nudity or sexual content.

“It is a reaction to what the stations are asking for in terms of dealing with their communities,” Grant said.

Jac Venza, director of performance programs for “Great Performances,” said that in the case of “The Lost Language of Cranes,” it was the elimination of nude scenes and some language that would allow station managers in small markets--more than 100 of whom refused to air last year’s “P.O.V.” program about black gay men, “Tongues Untied”--to show the film.

“I learned a long time ago that there are two things program managers have a hard time with: language and nudity,” Venza said in an interview. “If I left it in, it would not be able to be seen in cities where I most want it to be seen.”

Despite Venza’s efforts, however, there are cities where “The Lost Language of Cranes” will not be shown. Neither PBS nor “Great Performances” have a tally of how many, but program directors from at least two--Indianapolis and Bonita Springs, Fla.--said here that they will not be airing it.

“I’m not airing ‘Lost Language of Cranes,’ but not because of content,” said Terry Dugas, director of programming for WSFP-TV in Bonita Springs. “I thought it wasn’t as good as another ‘Great Performances’ I have on the shelf, so I’m airing that.”

Dugas, who will be showing “Hamlet” when “Lost Language of Cranes” is scheduled, said that he will be airing “Portrait of a Marriage,” but only because PBS provided the second, more heavily edited version. Last year, Dugas’ station did not air “Tongues Untied.”

Dugas described his community as “extraordinarily conservative” and said that the judge who declared rap music by the group 2 Live Crew to be obscene is located in the area. That means that he must be particularly careful about language and nudity on the air, Dugas said, because a local judge has already defined local community standards for obscenity.

“ ‘Tongues Untied’ used the exact sexual language that the judge declared obscene,” Dugas said.

Dugas, like many programmers, said he is committed to broadcasting depictions of what he called alternative lifestyles. But he said in order to broadcast such programming, he had to be very careful. Editing out sequences that could cause specific legal problems, such as nude scenes or explicit language, makes it less likely that his license could be threatened by someone who was offended by a program.

Similarly, he said, when a program is likely to be controversial, the station warns in advance that it contains material that some viewers might find offensive.

“Then when they call,” he said, “I can say, ‘I warned you. I gave you the opportunity to exercise your right to change the channel.’ ”