Italy sees edited ‘Brokeback’

Italian state television cut a gay sex scene from Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain,” as well as a sequence showing the lead characters kissing, when it aired the movie, drawing allegations of censorship from gay rights groups Wednesday.

Activists protested that RAI TV would never have dropped similar scenes had they involved a heterosexual couple, and politicians called for the incident to be discussed in parliament.

RAI said it had aired the cut version by mistake.

“Brokeback Mountain” is about two ranch-hand buddies who start an affair in the 1960s. The 2005 movie won three Oscars.

“I don’t believe it was an oversight, I believe it was preventive censorship,” gay rights advocate and former lawmaker Vladimir Luxuria said of Monday night’s telecast in an interview with La Repubblica daily.

RAI said in a statement the film had arrived from the distributor already cut so that it could be shown in prime time. When it was decided to air it late at night, no one checked for the uncut version, it said.