Source: Southern Voice

by Ryan Lee
IMAGINE YOU ARE WALKING THROUGH A FOREST and you come across a giant oak or maple tree lying on its side.

Besides the tree stands an unremarkable looking man, who loudly huffs and puffs as he pounds on his bare chest and flexes his muscles.

“I ripped this big maple tree up out of the ground with my own two hands,” the barechested man says. “I pulled the roots out of the dirt, threw the heavy bark across my shoulders, and then body-slammed this beast onto the ground.”

If you’ve got any intelligence, you may look around for signs to let you know if the man is telling the truth. Did rain saturate the soil and loosen the tree’s roots? Did animals compromise the tree’s foundation by chewing holes near the base? Was it cut down as part of a larger logging operation?

If you’re a member of the media or some gay rights groups, you accept the bare-chested man’s story as gospel. Then you spread the word as far as you can, about the man with enough might that he can rip 200-year-old maple trees out of the ground with his own two hands.

DONALD WILDMON IS JUST SUCH A CRAZY, bare-chested man, and the trees he regularly takes credit for tearing down are Fortune 500 companies that his American Family Association says support the “gay agenda.” Wildmon most recently set his eyes on Ford, calling for a boycott of the company in spring 2006 because the automaker offered domestic partnership benefits to gay employees, sponsored gay rights organizations working to support same-sex marriage and advertised in gay media outlets.

Last week, Wildmon called off the AFA’s boycott after Ford allegedly agreed to stop advertising in gay publications and supporting gay rights groups. He’s currently beating his chest and flexing his muscles, claiming that Ford sales were down almost 10 percent each month during the two-year boycott. [see Qnews summary]

Major media outlets bought in. “Score another victory for the American Family Association,” the Wall Street Journal reported in a story about Christian conservatives taking their case to corporate boardrooms.

Even liberal media outlets like Radar magazine reported that “Ford Bends Over for Conservative Group,” accusing the automaker of “capitulating” to the AFA’s “homophobic demands.”

But Ford executives say, essentially, that Wildmon is full of it.

Ford representatives did not respond to interview requests by press time, but in a written statement to Adweek, Ford spokesperson Jim Cain said the company did not cave into the AFA’s demands as claimed.

“We are committed to treating everyone fairly and with respect, including our dealers, customers and employees,” Cain told Adweek. “Ford will continue to market its products widely to attract as many customers as possible, and make charitable contributions to strengthen communities to the extent business conditions allow.”

Ford continues to offer DP benefits to gay and lesbian employees, Ford divisions such as Volvo continue to advertise in gay publications, and Volvo remains a major corporate sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights group.

Wildmon and the AFA have an embarrassing modus operandi: They routinely lob outrageous allegations against corporations, call ambiguous boycotts whose success is impossible to measure, announce they are ending the boycott and celebrate their demands being met. Each and every time, the corporation denies paying attention to the AFA’s demands and reaffirms its gay-friendly policies.

If only the media and gay rights groups would realize how the AFA is, and stop giving credit where none is due.

Full article: Bogus boycott - Enough with the AFA’s chest-thumping over Ford