Ford's Ongoing Support for Homosexual Agenda Has Pro-Family Crowd Fuming
by Allie Martin
January 12, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A national coalition of pro-family organizations has asked Ford Motor Company to stop funding either side in the culture war. The Tupelo, Mississippi-based American Family Association (AFA) is spearheading an effort by these groups to encourage Ford to honor its previous commitment to stop supporting homosexual groups and causes.
Late last spring AFA began a boycott of Ford because of the company's contributions to homosexual rights groups and advertisement in homosexual publications, its policy of offering benefits to same-sex domestic partners, and its recruitment of homosexual employees. The boycott was suspended for six months while company officials and pro-family leaders tried to work out a compromise.
Following a meeting with AFA and other pro-family officials, Ford announced it was pulling its ads in homosexual publications. Now, however, the company is being accused of reneging on that commitment and on other promises company representatives made to stop supporting the homosexual agenda.
According to AFA founder and chairman Don Wildmon, Ford had said that it would not make corporate donations to homosexual organizations promoting same-sex "marriage" or civil unions, and would not renew its current promotions or create new incentives providing cash donations to homosexual organizations.
The company also said it would stop giving cash and vehicle donations or endorsements to homosexual events such as "Gay Pride" parades and would cease all advertising in homosexual websites and media outlets in the U.S., with the exception of certain Volvo promotions. It was decided that the Volvo ads were exempt because they were the same ones used in the general media and did not specifically target homosexuals.
Ford's About-Face: From Pro-Family to 'Pro-Gay'
However, complaints about these concessions arose from a number of homosexual groups. In response, after meeting with the leaders of seven pro-homosexual organizations, Ford announced that it would be advertising all of its vehicles in "gay-friendly" publications after all. Following that meeting, according to Wildmon, the company repudiated the earlier representations to AFA and issued a public letter strongly supporting the homosexual groups.
AFA has requested that Ford retract its repudiation and honor its prior statements. "We cannot and will not sit by as Ford supports an agenda aimed at the destruction of the family," the pro-family spokesman insists. Also, he warns that the automotive giant's recent actions could adversely affect thousands of dealers across the United States.
Wildmon says pro-family groups are asking those dealers to call Ford Motor Company CEO Bill Ford and demand to know why a handful of homosexual groups are more important to the company than thousands of its own dealers. He points out that these individuals "had no input into this decision by Ford," yet they stand to bear the brunt of its negative effects, including the pro-family backlash it will provoke.
This continued support for homosexual groups and their agenda "ill serves the purposes of Ford," the AFA chairman contends. "It is a no-win situation," he says, adding that the company would do well to redirect the energy and resources thus spent toward "building better automobiles."
At the very least, Wildmon notes, the coalition would like the company to take a neutral stance. "One of the major things that we're asking Ford to do is stop funding either side in the culture wars -- go about the business of making automobiles and get out of the culture wars," he says.
The automotive giant's corporate leadership should "let those who are pro or con, or let the politicians fight these cultural battles," the pro-family leader asserts, "and let Ford make automobiles."
Wildmon's letter to Bill Ford asking that his company honor its commitments to AFA was signed by more than 40 pro-family coalition leaders. Among the co-signatories were Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Beverly LaHaye of Concerned Women for America, Ted Haggard of the National Association of Evangelicals, Judie Brown of American Life League, and many others. AFA has asked for a written response from Ford by January 20.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
