From what I understand, not having watched on Starz or at all in a long time, the new show is just a continuation of the old one on BBC. BBC decided to not renew it and after about a year the producers got Starz to pick it up. They changed the setting from England to the USA and moved the cast over here, not sure what in show explanation they used but Cpt. Jack was always claimed to be an American, so I'm sure they used that somehow to explain moving his team over here.
But yeah, the whole gay thing put me off, and I'm a huge Doctor Who fan. Hell I've watched every single episode of Who, including the lost ones that exist only as original audio pieced together with still pictures and new narration to explain movements that can no long be seen on screen.
I put up with the gay references to his past loves, etc for the first two or three seasons but then they started having him actually kiss men... the episode where Jack was hardcore frenching James Marsters (Spike from Buffy) was the last straw for me. Not only did it further ruin the Doctor Who spin off, but it also made me lose a lot of respect for Marsters who played one of my favorite characters on Buffy.
I stopped watching after that. I think that was about a season and a half before BBC stopped making episodes. I can only imagine that the sex scenes are even more hardcore on Starz.