Gay culture has burst out of the closet and onto U.S. television and cinema screens over the past few monthsbut conservative Christians and other groups are trying to push it back.

One of the most popular television episodes in recent years occurred last May, when the protagonist of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) show ‘Ellen’ revealed that she was gay – just days after the show’s star, Ellen DeGeneres, revealed that she was a lesbian.

Similarly, one of the most popular movies in the country since it opened last month is ‘In and Out,’ directed by Frank Oz, a comedy which features Kevin Kline as a teacher who realises that he might be gay just days before he is to be married. The comedy has proved one of the most financially successful films of the autumn – belying Hollywood’s worries that gay-themed movies won’t sell.

Behind the surface, however, those two examples reveal just as much the challenges that homosexuals face in being accepted as it does how far they have come. DeGeneres is openly feuding with ABC over whether ‘Ellen’ will be able to deal with gay topics, while the ‘In and Out’ stars – including Kline and Tom Selleck, who share a lengthy, and quite funny, onscreen kiss in the movie – have taken pains to emphasise that they are not gay.

The DeGeneres-ABC dispute has been especially revealing of the new pressures television producers face at a time when President Bill Clinton and Congress have approved labelling all shows for age-appropriate ratings. Unlike every other comedy on the main four U.S. networks, ‘Ellen’ is rated ‘TV-14’, a designation which suggests it is inappropriate material for anyone 13 or under.

DeGeneres has also expressed frustration that ABC executives are downplaying any gay-themed stories involving her character on the show, Ellen Morgan. An ABC memo suggested that the show’s writers take “baby steps” in dealing with the character’s sexuality and largely avoid jokes or stories based on homosexuality.

That concern in turn reflects the effects of a boycott sponsored by the National Baptist Convention, a conservative Southern-based group, against Walt Disney, the entertainment conglomerate which owns ABC. The Baptists were enraged that Disney/ABC have allowed the main character of a popular show to “come out” as a lesbian, and have also protested Disney for allowing the same worker’s rights and benefits for gay spouses as for heterosexual married couples.

The pressure has been too much for DeGeneres, who has threatened to leave the show if ABC goes ahead with plans to preface each episode with a parental advisory suggesting that the material “may be inappropriate for younger children.” The actress compared ABC’s attitude to designating a gay-themed show in such a manner to labelling an African American-based show offensive to anyone who dislikes black people.

For all the controversy, the remarkable thing about ‘Ellen’ is how moderate and family-based the show’s treatment of homosexuality is. One episode showed Ellen Morgan seeking to win her parent’s understanding and failing – until her father, seeing his daughter insulted for being a lesbian, shouts back in her defense, “She’s here, she’s queer – get used to it!” He then smiles back at Ellen and remarks, “I saw that on a bumper sticker.”

‘In and Out,’ written by Paul Rudnick, similarly deals more with how a traditional community handles the possibility that one of its members, schoolteacher Howard Brackett (Kline), could be gay.

Brackett’s father, played by Wilford Brimley, asks him with endearing confusion, “You’re not going to go into show business now, are you?” Brackett’s students insist that people have been mistaken into believing he’s gay because he’s so clean and polite.

Kline is funny as someone unsure of how to behave appropriately “manly” – so much so that he tries to learn from a series of hilariously-snide taped instructions, which teach him how to say such masculine phrases as “Yo!” while avoiding ones like, “What a fabulous window dressing!”

Even with the success of ‘In and Out,’ however, there are ironies about the actors’ unease with gay topics. Selleck, a prominent conservative spokesman, plays a tabloid reporter who is gay – a strange move considering that the actor sued a tabloid, ‘The Globe’, for libel several years ago when it reported rumours that Selleck himself could be gay. Selleck also took pains to say that the only men he has kissed in real life are his father and brothers – and only on the cheek.

The makers of ‘In and Out’ have also felt compelled to tell the media that gay themes do not harm acting careers, as did the makers of last year’s Robin Williams comedy ‘The Birdcage’ (a remake of the French film ‘La Cage aux Folles’) once that film became a hit.

A pattern is emerging: the more the public clamours for stories about homosexuals, the more ubiquitous gay-themed films and shows become – and the more defensive everyone involved with those productions becomes to assert that they are not gay (except for DeGeneres).

Still, gay life is coming out everywhere, even if homosexuals themselves are not. Even Janet Jackson, on her new album ‘The Velvet Rope’ (on Virgin Records), plays around with gender roles, singing about bi-sexuality and remaking Rod Stewart’s ‘Tonight’s the Night’ while keeping its chorus of “I love you, girl/ Ain’t nobody gonna stop us now.” For Janet’s brother, Michael Jackson – who once sang a song titled ‘In the Closet’ – these must be confusing days indeed.