UNITED STATES – Ford Motor Company has earned a reputation for being a gay-friendly company, both in its treatment of its own employees and in its financial support of gay rights groups and publications. That reputation took a blow to the chin on Tuesday when the company announced that it would no longer advertise its luxury Jaguar and Land Rover in gay magazines.Company representative Mike Moran insisted that the decision had nothing to do with an earlier announcement by Mississippi–based American Family Association that the notoriously anti-gay and ultra-conservative Christian group had cancelled its boycott of Ford products. Chairman Donald Wildmon announced last Wednesday on the group’s website that the AFA was “ending the boycott of Ford,” although there were still “a few differences with Ford,” which the AFA believed were “being addressed in good faith and will continue to be addressed in the future.”

Representatives from both groups met during the spring to discuss concerns expressed by Wildmon’s organization that the major auto manufacturer was too gay-friendly, spending thousands of dollars to support gay rights groups, offering company benefits to same-sex couples, and actively recruiting gay employees. A temporary end to the boycott was announced in June with the expectation that it might resume in December if circumstances had not improved.

Regardless, Moran claimed that his company’s decision to pull advertising from such publications as the bi-weekly magazine The Advocate had nothing to do with the special interest group’s boycott threats. Ads for Mercedes-Benz were on the magazine’s website on Tuesday.

“The decisions with regard to advertising was a business decision,” Moran insisted, explaining that Ford’s Volvo band would remain an advertising entity in gay publications, although its Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands would no longer appear in those pages. According to Moran, Jaguar and Land Rover have chosen to scale back all advertising due to market realities, which included a $108 million pre-tax loss during the year’s third quarter.

“They’re not supporting as many publications and events as before in 2006,” Moran clarified.

Nonetheless, The Human Rights Campaign, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and other gay rights organizations indicated concern about a possible link between Ford’s decision and the American Family Association’s decision to end its boycott.

“If there’s an agreement with AFA, we expect Ford to disavow it. We expect Ford to publicly reaffirm its historic support for our community. And, we expect Ford to meet with LGBT representatives this week to resolve these concerns,” the groups stated on the Human Rights Campaign website.

Moran insists that there is no deal between the American Family Association and Ford. Furthermore, he said that the company had made it clear to the AFA representatives that it would continue to offer comparable benefits to gay employees.

“We have no confidential agreement with the AFA,” he stated, adding that Ford is proud of its policy of non-discrimination and has no plans for changing them.

Spring also saw the end to the American Family Association’s unsuccessful nine-year boycott of The Walt Disney Company, which also provides benefits to its employees in same-sex couples, as well as promotes gay-focused events at its theme parks. According to Disney, theme park attendance rose and earnings increased during the alleged boycott period.