Phoenix, Ariz. (AP) — The NBA’s Phoenix Suns have dropped a conservative lobby group, the Center for Arizona Policy, as sponsor of their “Church Night,” a promotional night aimed at bringing church members to the team’s March 19 basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks.

The decision was made after a number of churches complained that literature from the group was included in a Suns promotional mailing and was riddled with extreme right wing views, including what some church leaders called radical anti-gay rhetoric.

The packets included a letter with the headline: “The enemy’s assault on marriage.” The literature described center efforts to support a federal marriage amendment that would outlaw same-sex marriages. About 2,000 invitations were sent to Phoenix-area churches and an additional 20,000 went to supporters of the Center for Arizona Policy.

But, the center is fighting back, proclaiming on its website that “Homosexuals Hijack Church Night!” and criticizing the Suns for giving in to “the demands of gay protesters.”

Len Munsil, center president, wrote on the website, “The goal of homosexual activists is to turn those who believe their behavior is sinful into the moral equivalent of members of the Ku Klux Klan.”

Munsil added, “By caving in to gay pressure groups, the Suns like many businesses have chosen sides in the culture war, and given a victory to the homosexual forces of intolerance and censorship. Rather than doing business with both sides without endorsing either, the Suns will market to gays and gamblers, but fear associating with a pro-family group.”

The center claims to be “the only organization in Arizona actively presenting a biblical perspective to the legislature and media on marriage, gambling, homosexuality, pornography and abortion.”

The team dropped the sponsorship, saying the purpose of the evening was to enjoy a basketball game, not to generate a policy debate.

The Rev. Steve Wayles, pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ in downtown Phoenix and one of a number of ministers who objected to the material, said he was “angry and appalled” by the “right-wing trash” in the letter. He contacted members of No Longer Silent, an organization of about 100 clergy members who welcome the gay community to their churches.

“I told (the Suns) I didn’t feel anything like this could be called a ‘church night’ with such an openly bigoted agenda,” Wayles said.

In dropping the center as their sponsor the Suns apologized for the material that had been sent out. “This kind of flew under our radar screen,” said Tom Ambrose, a team vice president. “As soon as we had one or two complaints, we took a harder look and realized we had a huge problem.”

Ambrose acknowledged the issue was problematic for the Suns because the team has groomed a gay fan base for its WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury.