Furor Over `Nightline' Gay Series

NEW YORK (AP) - A planned ``Nightline'' series on homosexuals' lives has caused a furor just from its title alone.

Since the weeklong special, ``A Matter of Choice? Gay Life in America,'' was announced Monday, dozens of homosexuals have contacted the program to complain.

It prompted ``Nightline'' executive producer Tom Bettag to post an explanation on the ABC News Web site. But he's not changing the title of the report, tentatively scheduled for late September.

``Two months in advance, we've never had this kind of thing before,'' Bettag said Thursday. ``That the title and one punctuation point would raise this much controversy is really quite remarkable.''

Most activists believe that their sexual orientation is at least partly a matter of biology, not something they choose as a result of cultural or psychological influences.

```A Matter of Choice?' is an easy title that piques curiosity and stirs controversy, but it does so at the expense of the people it's profiling,'' said Cathy Renna of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Bettag, in his posted response, said that although many homosexuals believe the question has been resolved, scientific and religious arguments remain.

``It is our job to ask the questions that make society examine itself,'' he said.

ABC News has gotten anti-gay e-mails, Bettag said, including one person who wrote that if ABC talks about homosexual life, ``we hope you will make it clear that this is evil.''

In the series, ``Nightline'' will examine teen-agers struggling with their sexual identity, the experiences of people in a homosexual retirement community and the aftermath of a gay community's uprising after a hate crime in Roanoke, Va.

Renna said it's just the sort of in-depth examination of homosexual life that GLAAD supports, but she's concerned many people won't watch it because they don't like the title.

``It's just really an unfortunate decision not to reconsider this title,'' she said.