An ad campaign from the Christian Congress for Traditional Values claiming that gay people aim to abolish the family has been banned by a watchdog group, the Advertising Standards Authority according to a report in the Guardian.

CCTV added that the potential for the ad to cause offence was "minimal" because the aim to redefine the concept of the family was "so widely and openly acknowledged" by the homosexual community.

It cited the 1971 Gay Liberation Front manifesto as an example supporting this position.

The ASA said that while it was legitimate that CCTV's ad represented the organisation's point of view.

It also ruled that the statement was "likely" to be understood to represent the view of whole gay community.

CCTV's website says:
The CCTV will act as a responsible pressure group lobbying for broad public support for its campaign aims and encouraging all 42-million citizens who registered themselves as Christians in the 2001 National Census, to join its cause. It will challenge by peaceful protest and demonstration, any media attempt to broadcast or publish material which is anti-Christian, or deliberately designed to ridicule traditional family values and lifestyles.

The CCTV believes in the tradition of British tolerance, in non-extreme but robust debate about traditional family values and is opposed to policies of censorship.

There is something of a pattern here. A press release says that

Complaints about a poster declaring “Miracles Healing Faith”, produced by a Brentwood church, have been rejected by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The poster has been on display across the country for several years until two complainants wrote recently to the ASA saying the words ’Miracles’ and ’Healing’ were misleading and irresponsible.

The leader of the church, Bishop Michael Reid, is delighted at the adjudication:

“The ASA acknowledges that most people in the UK are aware that Christians believe in miracles and healings. In every church in the land we pray that we believe in the power of God to do miracles and I’m delighted that in our church we see lots of people healed. What sort of country would it be if we couldn’t openly express our faith.

“I’m thrilled that common sense has prevailed. It’s amazing that the ASA even investigated two complaints since our poster, which they originally approved, has been exhibited from London to Scotland and across the UK for some years now.”