ROME, Jan. 30 (UPI)

Italian gay rights groups said they are angry at broadcaster RAI after a game show host said he was asked whether he was gay during an audition. The incident touched off protests from members of parliament and activists, as politicians debate a measure that would legalize civil unions of gay couples in this Catholic country, Variety said. The issue of discrimination against homosexuals at RAI is a pressing one that needs to be resolved at all levels, from equal opportunity in the workplace to equal time in the news, said leftist lawmaker Franco Grillini, who leads the Arcigay gay rights group. It is the second dust-up RAI experienced over gays. Parliament recently argued over the pending Un Medico in famiglia (A Doctor in the Family), which features two doctors living as a couple, the first time a gay couple has been depicted on RAI. Members of Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative bloc asked that the new version of the popular series be pulled before its scheduled airing in March. Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, said RAI was trying to persuade people that a normal family is composed of two people of the same sex.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International