A series of new Campbell Soup Company ads published in gay monthly The Advocate are being protested by the American Family Association (AFA).

The ads, spanning four pages, highlight the company's Swanson brand of broth with recipes and celebrity chef endorsements, including openly lesbian Cafe Forant Chef Lea Forant.

In that ad, Forant is featured with her partner, Carolyn, and their young son Eli.

The Christian-based AFA called the Campbell campaign an endorsement of gay families and the “homosexual agenda.”

“Campbell Soup Company has openly begun helping homosexual activists push their agenda,” the AFA wrote in an action alert.

“Not only did the ads cost Campbell's a chunk of money, but they also sent a message that homosexual parents constitute a family and are worthy of support.”

“They also gave their approval to the entire homosexual agenda,” the group says.

The association, founded in 1977 by Rev. Donald Wildmon, has a long history of objecting to equal rights for gays and lesbians. It has lobbied against gay marriage and hate-crime legislation that would benefit gays.

The AFA has protested gay-intended advertising in the past by boycotting those companies that have targeted the gay community.

In March, the AFA ended its two-year boycott against Ford Motor Company after it stopped advertising in the gay media. The automaker, however, has said it stopped running all niche advertising when the economy soured.

A 6-month boycott against hamburger giant McDonald's ended abruptly in October after the group said the company had agreed to “remain neutral in the culture war regarding homosexual marriage.” That statement, however, was never confirmed by the company.

The advertisements first appeared in the December issue of the The Advocate and again in January.