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by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Contributor
Thursday Jul 3, 2008
The
anti-gay American Family Association, which condemns gay and lesbian
family causes like marriage equality, has called for a boycott of
fast-food chain restaurant McDonald’s.
McDonald’s, however, has given the AMA notice that it’s not about to allow its policies to be dictated by anti-gay groups.
In
a May 29 letter to AFA founder and chairman Donald Wildmon, Pat Harris,
Global Chief Diversity Officer for McDonald’s, wrote, "Our founder Ray
Kroc once said, ’None of us is as good as all of us.’"
Added Harris, "This is a core value of McDonalds."
Harris’
letter continued, "We treat our employees and our customers with
respect and dignity, regardless of their ethnicity, religious beliefs,
sexual orientation or other factors. We support out employees’ personal
involvement in organizations of their choice."
Added Harris in
the letter to Wildmon, "McDonald’s is a trusted and well-respected
neighbor, employer and corporate citizen in communities across the U.S.
We will continue to support our people and their right to lie and work
in an inclusive society."
In response, the AFA has created a new Web site where the letter from Harris to Wildmon can be viewed. (The previous
letter, from Wildmon to McDonald’s, is evidently not available for
viewing at the site.)
The Web site refers to a "gay agenda" and calls for viewers to print up petitions and contact McDonald’s themselves.
Seethes
the Boycott McDonald’s Web site, "[The boycott] is about McDonald’s, as
a corporation, refusing to remain neutral in the culture wars."
Continued
the online text, "McDonald’s has chosen not to remain neutral but to
give the full weight of their corporation to promoting the homosexual
agenda, including homosexual marriage."
The Web site also
exhorts viewers to "Show your support!" and sign an online petition.
(No explanation is offered as to what, exactly, the signer of the
petition is supposed to be supporting.)
The boycott seems to
stem, in part, from McDonald’s having aired a television commercial in
2007 in the San Francisco market during Pride. The commercial, as
quoted by the Boycott McDonald’s Web site, said that McDonald’s is "a
company that actively demonstrates its commitment to the gay and
lesbian community."
But more directly, the AFA’s call for a
boycott follows the company’s acceptance of one of its officers, Vice
President of Communications Richard Ellis, having joined the board of
directors of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).
Notes online GLBT media source Good As You in a July 3 posting,
"Like Disney and Ford before them, Mickey D’s has become the latest
American corporation to suffer at the baselessly extremist, rabidly
anti-gay hands of Don Wildmon Inc."
Adds Good As You, "If ever there were a reason to eat carbs, gays, this just might be it!"
