HELENA - The politically conservative Montana Family Coalition is planning a media campaign against the new television show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," claiming that the reality-based show featuring five gay men is "trash" and shouldn't be on TV.

The coalition's executive director said it plans to inform advertisers who air commercials during the one-hour show that their ad falls during a program the Montana Family Coalition (formerly the Montana Christian Coalition) calls "outrageous" and a "joke."

"To me, that's not a reality show about gay people," said Julie Millam, who said she watched clips from the show. "A really good reality show for gay people would be five gay men dying of AIDS."

Gay rights advocates in Montana say the religious group's vehement reaction to "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" is really a reaction against growing mainstream support for gay content on TV and in American life.

"The Montana Family Coalition and other groups are in some ways losing the culture war," said Karl Olson, director of the gay rights group PRIDE. "There is a proliferation of TV shows that have some kind of gay content, celebrities often support gay and lesbian issues, gay teens are making the most astounding progress in schools."

A spokesman for Scout Productions, the East Coast company that produces "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," declined to comment on the issue Tuesday. "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" airs in Montana Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Bravo, an NBC cable network.

Millam said she has personally heard many complaints from people about the program.

"There's a groundswell of people who are very upset," she said.

NBC-affiliate stations across Montana, which ran the program this summer, said they received few - if any - calls from upset viewers. From Butte to Billings, the stations saw no major backlash and the Missoula station fielded a handful of callers.

Millam said she's not opposed so much to the show, but she and the Montana Family Coalition are opposed to the "whole direction" that television is going.

"We don't want to see (gay content) on every single TV show," she said. "I'm hearing from people left and right, that every time they turn on the TV it's something to do with gay people. It's not reality."

Of course "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" is not reality, Olson said. It's TV.

"TV is one of the lowest cultural forms in our society," Olson said. "I don't put much stock in it."

Olson pointed out that anti-gay groups have boycotted Disney theme parks for years after the company supported gay rights. However, Olson said, the upset groups haven't done much to affect the company's bottom line.

"My guess is when people turn on an entertainment program or go to the theme park, they're not thinking of politics," Olson said. "I don't think Julie's anti-gay crusade does anything to our political movement and efforts."