In a press release claiming that Ford ‘Proves’ Commitment To Homosexual Agenda, the American Family Association claims that Ford Motor Company “proved to the homosexual leaders the company’s commitment to their agenda” because Ford advertised on an episode of CBS’ Without a Trace in which two women kiss.
Although it is likely that Ford simply continued their advertising on the show and did not particularly care one way or the other whether this episode had a same-sex kiss, AFA’s Don Wildmon is free to interpret it as he wishes.
However, AFA goes further and claims the following:
Last fall, in a meeting with AFA, Ford agreed to stop funding the homosexual agenda. However, after a group of angry homosexual leaders met with Ford, the company reneged on its agreement and announced that they would continue their commitment to support the effort to legalize homosexual marriage. [emphasis mine]
That simply isn’t true. Ford did not “announce[] that they would continue their commitment to support the effort to legalize homosexual marriage”.
Ford announced that they would “vigorously promote their products to all people” and in a letter stated that Ford would “support certain events” and “run corporate ads in these targeted publications [for] all eight of Ford’s vehicle brands.” Ford did not mention homosexual marriage at any point, much less announce any commitment to support efforts to legalize it.
AFA tries to tie Ford to gay marriage by means of Ford’s sponsorship of GLAAD, an organization that AFA calls “one of the nation’s largest homosexual groups promoting homosexual marriage” (though GLAAD’s focus is solely on media image and only tangentially is involved with the gay marriage issue) and because of Ford’s sponsorship of a pride event at which there was a commitment ceremony. This connection is flimsy and indirect at best.
But AFA is not content with hyperbole and now has made an accusation that cannot be supported by any evidence. Wildmon should remember that when you make statements about businesses falsely claiming what they have announced, this makes all businesses less likely to trust you in the future.
Additionally, there has been some confusion about whether or not an anti-gay agreement had been reached between AFA and Ford. AFA claims an agreement was reached; Ford denies it. The unsustantiated claim made today by Wildmon removes any assumption of credibility on his part and strengthens Ford’s assertion that no agreement had ever been reached with AFA.
(thanks to goodasyou.com)
Truth has never been a forte of AFA.
I have owned three different Ford cars, most recently having purchased a 2006 Escape. The whole AFA boycott thing really got to me and I placed several calls to Ford’s customer relations department letting them know that as a gay man and a long-time Ford customer that I did not want to see them cave in to the facists at the AFA and that should they decide to cease advertising to the gay community that I would take my business elsewhere. I guess that my call (and hopefully the thousands of calls like it) made the difference for Ford – along with, of course, the fact that wingnuts probably aren’t buying the high-end Fords, Jaguars, Mazdas, Land Rovers, etc. I remember telling one rep that I would be surprised if most of the AFA’s supporters would even be able to afford a base model Focus! Although Ford’s founder was an unabashed racist and practically a facist, I really do love my Ford Escape and am happy that I could continue my relationship with the Ford Motor Company.
OH GOOD HEAVENS
Now the AFA is trying to get its good Christian folks to complain to Wal-Mart because it intends to sell the Brokeback Mountain DVD.
Does he complain about horror crap like The Mangler, Chopping Mall, or Hostel? No. Does he complain about sex romps American Pie or Wedding Crashers? Nah. Or perhaps he objects to DVD collections of occult TV shows like Buffy or Charmed (Wal-Mart markets these to “Teens”)? Ummm, nope.
All that Wildmon cares is that Brokeback is a “pro-homosexual” movie and so the good family folks who like to spend an evening watching boys having sex with pies, the antics of witches, and people being killed and mutilated should be morally incensed at the idea of allowing anyone to watch two ranch hands fall in love.
AFA, and several other groups are the “people who hate anything gay.” They are blind to other things that they otherwise would admit are evil. Besides, it’s so much easier to denouce anything gay. Easy target for them.
No one has appointed Don Wildmon and the American Freakshow Association the guardian of the national morality. When they issued demands of Ford, the AFA stepped into deep doo-doo…meaning their booger-pickin’ nose was sniffing in someone else’s bizness.
I would almost be willing to assume that the AFA did this because it couldn’t see the log in their own eyes when they peer into the mirror. . .and then realized that this nonsense smelled more like they were pinching a log on the other end of their emotionally tortured bodies.