By: Scot Bear Re: More about Texas AFA AUSTIN, Tex (Reuter) - A conservative Christian gro

By: Scot Bear
Re: More about Texas AFA

    AUSTIN, Tex (Reuter) - A conservative Christian group
  has touched off a battle with a gay newspaper by trying
  to persuade businesses to pull their advertising from the
  publication.

            Wyatt Roberts, head of the Texas chapter of the
  American Family Association, told Reuters Friday that he
  sent out letters to advertisers in the Texas Triangle warning
  that their names would be read on his weekly radio show.

            He accused the paper of condoning pedophilia,
  incest and blasphemy. ``I do think homosexuality is a sin,
  just like
  adultery, murder or anything else,'' Roberts said.

            Texas Triangle editor and founder Kay Longcope,
  a former Boston Globe reporter, said Roberts' actions have
  helped the paper, not hurt it. While some advertisers have
  pulled out, she told Reuters, a greater number of new ones
  have come in to show their support.

            ``There's a real groundswell of support beginning
  to emerge from the mainstream. We've had calls from lawyers
  and doctors saying 'I'm straight, but I support you,'''
  Longcope said.

            The Triangle prints about 15,000 copies weekly
  and is distributed in all of Texas' major cities.

            Roberts began attacking the publication several
  months ago on a local Christian radio station and started
  sending out letters to advertisers in late December. He said
  the Triangle has lost ads. ``We keep track of the ads in the
  paper'' he said.

            He said the campaign is part of a national effort
  by the Tupelo, Mississippi-based American Family Association,
  which supports conservative religious and family values,
  to ``clean up'' the media and improve the media's portrayal
  of right-wing Christian groups.