June 16, 1983

In neighborhoods throughout the city and across a broad spectrum of New York life, the influence of homosexual men and women is being seen and felt more than ever before. The yearly Gay Pride March, scheduled for June 26, is only one sign of the broadened awareness of homosexuality and the changes it has brought over the last decade and a half. The staffs of major political figures include representatives to the homosexual community. Homosexual churches and neighborhood groups have attracted hundreds of members. And this month a successful Broadway play about a drag queen's search for the meaning of family life won two Tony awards. Still, there are quarters in which homosexuals encounter hostility, and many men and women continue to lead what they describe as double lives, ''gay'' at home and ''straight'' on the job. But shifts in public attitudes have prompted others to live openly.

International Balance in East-West relations was stressed by Secretary of State George P. Shultz. In Congressional testimony, Mr. Shultz said Washington remained concerned about Moscow's military buildup, its ''unconstructive involvement'' in unstable areas of the world and its ''unrelenting effort'' to impose its philosophy on its allies. But he said the Administration sought ''to engage the Soviet leaders in a constructive dialogue.'' (Page A1, Column 6.) The Pope's return to Poland today is viewed by the military rulers as potentially risky but also as a chance to gain legitimacy, with the goal of an easing of Western economic sanctions imposed after martial law was declared Dec. 13, 1981. As Warsaw's welcoming banners were hung, plainclothes policemen were posted around the home in Gdansk of Lech Walesa, the founder of the Solidarity union, and he was told he would not be allowed to leave. (A1:5.)

The Port Authority, the operator of airports and bus terminals, wants to help build a $1.2 million greenhouse for an herb nursery in the South Bronx. ''We want to help finance businesses who want to expand and grow in New York City,'' Peter C. Goldmark Jr., executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said yesterday. ''What is unusual about this is the product.''

Fifth Avenue will get a ''red zone'' bus lane today that officials hope will help unsnarl traffic congestion there. The effect the lane will have on the avenue's commerce, however, remained an open question. The western-most lane of the avenue will be reserved for buses from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M., from 34th to 59th Street. Other vehicles may use the lane to make right turns, but those that stop or travel in the lane will be subject to fines of up to $100.

If there was doubt in anybody's mind that the computer would be an intrinsic part of American working lives, then this year's National Exposition of Interior Contract Furnishings will convince the most severe sceptics. Every major office furniture concern in the show coped with the computer. Work stations, executive desks, ergonomic chairs and filing cabinets seemed to be merely basics. The news was in the market's proliferation of support furniture - soundproof closets to house computer printer machines, rolling stands that support computer terminals, drawers that hold keyboards and tilting table tops - as well as myriad ways of dealing with wires, one of the nemeses of the new office environment.