My sense is that it was neither a big deal nor hypothetical.
It was an actual episode in which the sexual preferences of the developer were highlighted with a slant that many people objected. I did not see the episode which I think was called the Next Big Thing, but apparently the show made points like "it is ok to be gay".
On their website when someone complained another person responded with:
"Speaking of hate groups, I don't feel a whole lot of love in your comments either. Seems like there is enough hypocrisy to go around.
Nevertheless, I found Nova's decision to highlight this information irrelevant to the theme, out of context to the forum, and in bad taste. And that is simply a matter of principle based on what I consider to be poor journalistic reporting and priority: what does homosexuality have to do with developing bio-fuels? If Nova wants to develop a platform for gay rights, perhaps they should leave science to those who can stay focused on the subject of science rather than lobbying for a liberal social agenda.
I think its a shame that they would even taint an otherwise great program with such controversy."
So it would seem that even NOVA's defenders had problems with the episode.
However, considering how little controversy I found on NOVA and how just about everyone puts their foot in their mouth sometimes I think I would prefer change my stance and to say now that NOVA is, on balance, not biased, but that they were maybe somehow influenced to make a mistake by their close association with PBS which is biased.