BAPTISTS URGE DISNEY BOYCOTT : COMPANY ACCUSED OF ABANDONING FAMILY VALUES.

Byline: Glenn Gaslin and Reed Johnson Daily News Staff Writers

The 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention called Wednesday for a boycott of the Walt Disney Co., saying that the media giant has betrayed its ``historic commitment'' to traditional family values.

Holding its annual convention in New Orleans, the nation's largest Protestant denomination resolved to urge its members to boycott everything Disney - theme parks, stuffed animals, videotapes and upcoming movies, which include ``The Hunchback of Notre Dame,'' set to open June 21.

The resolution was adopted by an overwhelming majority of the nearly 13,000 delegates to protest what it calls the company's ``promotion of homosexuality'' and its subsidiaries' production of books and movies that ``disparage Christian values.''

``Disney has taken a big departure from family values in many areas,'' said the Rev. Wiley Drake, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, a few miles from Disneyland, and sponsor of the boycott amendment.

In January, Disney initiated a policy giving unmarried domestic partners, including same-sex companions of gay and lesbian employees, the same insurance benefits as married couples. All major movie studios have similar policies.

``We just really felt like these and other decisions represent a significant departure from Disney's family image, and a very gratuitous insult to Southern Baptists that have supported Disney,'' Drake said.

Drake said that Southern Baptists will be considering a number of boycott strategies, including picketing of Disney properties and voicing objections at Disney shareholders' meetings.

Disney officials declined to discuss the call for a boycott, responding instead with a short statement.

``We find it curious that a group that claims to espouse family values would vote to boycott the world's largest producer of wholesome family entertainment,'' the statement reads.

``We question any group that demands that we deprive people of health benefits and we know of no tourist destination in the world that denies admission to people as the Baptists are insisting we do.''

The resolution also denounced lesbian and gay-theme events at Disney parks, often referred to as ``Gay Days,'' and a book aimed at teen-age homosexuals published by Hyperion press, a Disney subsidiary.

The Baptists' action is the latest salvo in what appears to be an escalating cultural war pitting Disney against Christian and conservative groups. Previously, such groups have called for boycotts of movies released by Disney subsidiary Miramax Films. Others claim to have found encoded sexual messages in Disney cartoons, such as ``The Lion King'' and ``Aladdin.''

The delegates passed the boycott with an overwhelming show of hands and a round of applause. But not all Baptist parishioners will be asking kids to miss ``The Hunchback of Notre Dame,'' Disney's upcoming animated epic, this summer.

The Rev. Charles Cutney of First Southern Baptist Church of North Hollywood stressed that the resolution is not binding on individual Southern Baptist churches, which are independent and autonomous.

Cutney said that a number of his parishioners over the years have been Disney employees. Rather than joining the boycott, he said, he would try ``to be as much of a positive influence as I can'' on the entertainment industry.

Within the walls of Disney's Burbank studio, several gay employees said they aren't worried that Disney will reverse its current benefits policy.

``Disney recognizes that there are very many different kinds of families,'' said Robert L. Williams, who works at the studio and co-chairs a support group for other gay and lesbian employees.

The group, Lesbian and Gay United Employees, or LEAGUE, was formed to nudge Disney in the direction of other major movie studios that offer insurance benefits to workers' significant others.

Many movie studios, such as Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Viacom International (which includes MTV and Paramount Pictures), MCA/Universal and Warner Bros., offer similar packages.

``I'm proud to work for a company that celebrates a sense of diversity,'' Williams added. ``I would challenge any of these people who want to boycott to talk to me personally and see what my home life is like and what my family is like.''

Garrett Hicks, who works in the same studio, has started a statewide umbrella organization to bring together groups like LEAGUE, to advance gay and lesbian financial issues in the workplace. He shrugged off the boycott.

``I have yet to hear of any completely and thoroughly effective boycott. Ever,'' he said. ``Groups may raise a big stink about it, but, ultimately, when it comes down to the bottom line, nothing really happens.''

Hicks cited a recent boycott led by gay and lesbian groups against the state of Colorado to protest an anti-homosexual rights law, that had little economic impact.

Other Christian organizations declined to take a stand on the Baptists' resolution.

Rebecca Lindstedt, spokesman for the American Life League, based in Stafford, Va., said that gay rights is ``not one of our issues.'' The anti-abortion Christian group has claimed that Disney animators snuck risque messages into such films as ``Aladdin'' and ``The Lion King.''

The group also called for a boycott of Disney following the release of the motion picture ``Priest'' by Disney-owned Miramax.

However, Lindstedt said her group's previous call for a boycott was ``a pretty clear statement that Disney is not promoting movies that are pro-life, pro-God messages.''

The Rev. Verne Campbell, pastor of Mountain View Southern Baptist Church in Lake View Terrace, offered a similar view of the company that created Mickey Mouse and Buzz Lightyear.

``If Walt (Disney) was alive today, there would not be this support of the lesbian or the homosexual lifestyle that is embraced,'' he said. ``There wouldn't be a special night for lesbians and homosexuals at Disneyland.''