An appeals court in San Francisco has ruled that the city of San Francisco did not trample on religious freedoms or First Amendment rights when it urged a local boycott of an anti-gay advertising campaign backed by conservative Christian groups.

The offending ads were launched by the AFA and FRC in 1998, the ad campaign was called "Truth in Love" and claimed that gays could be converted to heterosexuality through prayer, and which extended what it called "an open hand that offers healing for homosexuality"

San Francisco's board of supervisors passed a resolution condemning the ad campaign, labeling it "hateful rhetoric." The resolution said it was language such as that in the ad that was to blame for hate crimes against gays, including the 1998 beating death of Matthew Shepard.

The resolution called on San Francisco television stations and newspapers to reject the ads.

The AFA and FRC sued the city, claiming the resolution had violated the separation of church and state and had trampled on the organizations' free-speech rights.

News from: http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2002/01/18/4