PORTLAND (AP) – Pastors opposed to the state’s gay rights law are being advised to tone down their condemnation of homosexuality and focus as much on love and support as on sin and scripture.

Haley and Melissa Fryrear from Focus on the Family urged about 200 leaders from Maine’s evangelical community last week to stop quoting Leviticus, which refers to gay sex as an “abomination,” and to avoid sayings like, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”

They encouraged balance in churches, communities and public policy debates.

That balance could be key for Maine’s Christian conservatives trying to win support for a November ballot question. They hope to overturn a pending state law that would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.

A righteous or hateful tone could steer undecided voters away, while one of kindness and compassion could help win supporters, said Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine.

“You have to avoid coming off in any way as hateful. If they can’t do that, they won’t succeed,” Brewer said.

Gay-rights advocates question how much love and support conservative Christians can muster while they condemn same-sex relationships as morally wrong.

Jesse Connolly of Maine Won’t Discriminate, the campaign to add sexual orientation to the Maine Human Rights Act, questioned how much love and support exist in an effort by conservative Christians trying to stop a law that would ensure people can keep their jobs, apartments or lines of credit.

“If there was compassion in what they talk about, they would be on our side,” Connolly said.

Christian conservatives in Maine have swayed voters on the anti-discrimination measure before. Mainers in 1998 sided with conservative religious groups and repealed a law that would have outlawed discrimination against gays and lesbians. Two years later, lawmakers did not pass the measure, but asked voters to decide. Mainers rejected it in a close vote.

The most recent dispute over the anti-discrimination law started last spring. The Legislature enacted the law, but conservative Christians led a drive that gathered enough signatures to force a vote in November.

Colin Lemont, who is an adult leader at Calvary Bible Baptist Church in Whitefield, said he hopes the message delivered by Focus on the Family will help to keep the campaign from becoming nasty and divisive.

“That really needs to become a key component through this whole debate and process,” Lemont said.

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