DATE: Tuesday, June 24, 1997                TAG: 9706240263

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DATELINE: LINVILLE                          LENGTH:   41 lines

FALWELL SUPPORTS BAPTISTS ON BOYCOTT OF DISNEY CO.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell has offered praise for the Southern Baptist Convention's boycott of the Disney Co. and condemnation for Disney chief Michael Eisner and lesbian actress Ellen DeGeneres.

``What Ellen does in her private life is her own business,'' Falwell told about 10,000 Sunday at the base of Grandfather Mountain.

``But when Ellen and Mr. Eisner stand up in public television and tell children that `Gay is OK,' then I have to stand up as a preacher and say `Gay is not OK.' ''

Falwell was the speaker at the 73rd annual Singing on the Mountain.

About a dozen gospel and bluegrass groups from the eastern United States traveled to the festival to share their music and their message.

Falwell preached to the crowd about the need for strong families in today's society, and said that premarital sex, homosexuality and one-parent families threaten America's foundation.

The Southern Baptist Convention voted in Dallas Wednesday to boycott Disney and all of its subsidiaries, including movies, theme parks and TV outlets including the ABC network, which aired the sitcom ``Ellen,'' in which DeGeneres came out as a lesbian earlier this year.

Among the Baptists' other objections are ``Gay Days'' at Disney theme parks, and its subsidiary movie studios putting out films with violence and sex.

Falwell said he believes that homosexuality is a sin because all sexual relations outside of marriage are condemned by God and that marriage is ordained to be between a man and a woman.

But Falwell said that no matter how bad homosexuality is, the person who practices it should not be cast out of God's shelter.

``We've got to love people,'' he said. ``Hate the sin, but love the sinner.''

Falwell said the answer to all the problems facing society today, from drug use to the AIDS epidemic to teen-age pregnancy, lies within society itself.

``Recovery must begin in the home,'' he said.

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