For years, Ford has courted the gay car buyer with ads such as a 2003 Jaguar magazine spread featuring a man with an inviting smile and text reading, "Life is full of twists and turns. Care for a partner?"

That courtship ended on Monday when Ford announced it was cutting advertising in gay publications for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

The move outraged gay advocates, who contend Ford struck a confidential deal with the conservative Christian group, the American Family Association, which recently ended a boycott over Ford's "track record on promoting the homosexual agenda."

A spokesman for Ford vigorously denies that the end of the boycott was linked to the removal of advertising in gay publications.

"Absolutely not -- the two things have been put together unfairly," said Ford's Mike Moran, noting that Volvo, another Ford brand, will continue its gay-themed ads. "The decisions on where Ford brands advertise are made for business reasons and not as a social statement one way or the other."

But gay advocacy groups aren't buying Ford's explanation.

"All indications point to a confidential agreement," said Jay Brown, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign.

Mr. Brown said that Ford has agreed to meet with representatives from his group and other gay advocacy groups to discuss their concerns.

He said he hoped the meeting would take place "in a matter of days."

The American Family Association referred all questions on Ford to a statement on its Web site from its chairman, Donald E. Wildmon. "We are ending the boycott of Ford," he wrote. "While we still have a few differences with Ford, we feel that our concerns are being addressed in good faith and will continue to be addressed in the future."

AFA began the boycott at the end of May, citing concerns about Ford's same-sex benefits program, donations to gay rights groups and diversity training requirements. The boycott only lasted about a week before it was suspended for six months in early June after pleas from individual dealers.

The boycott was set to resume Dec. 1 before the AFA canceled it on Nov. 30 after Ford executives met with the group at their Tupelo, Miss., headquarters.

Mr. Moran said the boycott of Ford was touched off in part by gay-themed advertising, but that the AFA primarily objected to ads running in Europe -- ads that he said are no longer running. One Ford ad in Germany featured two men holding hands, while another showed two women in their bras.

He said that the decision to pull the Jaguar and Land Rover ads from gay publications "has been evolving for months and months" and that the change in marketing strategy reflects a general malaise in the American car industry.

"Our company and GM, we're all being challenged," he said. "Everything is on the table."

Mr. Moran said the company is pulling ads from other markets as well, but would not identify those markets for competitive reasons.

Ford entered the gay-themed advertising market in 2002, shortly after the company extended domestic partner benefits to its employees, said Michael Wilke, executive director of the Commercial Closet Association, which tracks gay-themed advertising.

Mr. Wilke said that given Ford's careful study before entering the market, he was surprised by the announcement of the advertising pullback. "If it was a business decision, it was a rash one," he said.

But Spencer Moore, manager of corporate communications for PlanetOut Inc., which owns many gay-themed Web sites and magazines, said he is inclined to believe Ford's business rationale.

"Based on what Ford has said, it's a business decision and some of their brands are still advertising," he said.

Mr. Moore said that Ford had not yet notified PlanetOut of any ad cancellations, and that Ford's ads make up a very small percentage of PlanetOut's automobile advertising.

Regardless of Ford's motivation, outside analysts said the company has entered a public relations nightmare by trying to appease diametrically opposed interest groups.

"If it's true that the gay publications were cut back only as a broader cut, then Ford has done a very poor job of communicating that," said Kelly O'Keefe, who runs a Richmond, Va.-based brand strategy consulting group. "They're caught tongue-tied about an issue that's very important to stakeholders on both sides."