Tag: boycott

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Armistead Maupin Weighs In On Gay Hoteliers Debacle

Writing on his Facebook page today, legendary gay author Armistead Maupin had this to say about the ongoing scandal/boycott of NYC gay hoteliers Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass:

“I’m the only gay man I know who has never been to Fire Island. I have not made a point of staying away — its charms are legendary, of course — but the occasion has simply never presented itself.

“Now, it’s quite likely that I will remain forever virginal in that regard. Or at least until these guys are no longer collecting money at the dock. When I coined the term “A-gay” forty years ago, these were just the sort of creeps I had in mind. It was never intended as something to aspire to.”

The post was in response to a less than flattering profile in the New York Times about the two men and the scandal surrounding them.

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Hotel Owner Ian Reisner Blames Lack Of Profit On “Cheap” and “Entitled” Gays

Talking to New York Magazine with his business partner, Matti Weiderpass, hotelier Ian Reisner had this to say about the LGBT community and the boycott aimed at his gay-centric hotel and night club The Out NYC since hosting a “fireside chat” with Sen. Ted Cruz:

“You know, it’s so ironic — I wanted to build kind of a community center in the gateway to Hell’s Kitchen, which in 2008–2009 was already a gay place and now it’s even gayer. Very close to Broadway. We decided there’d be so many different ways to give back to the community. We show gay artists there. For gay performers, we have let this cabaret club go on for three and a half years.

“And you don’t make money when you let drag queens in on Tuesday night and 30 people drink at $10 a drink and you have to pay five people to watch over the place. You don’t make money.

“My only point is, this has not been a profitable venture. Gays are cheap. They’re frugal; gays are frugal. Let me retract that … gays are entitled … Do you know how challenging it is to make a penny off a gay person? I’m gay, I don’t pay cover. I’m gay, where’s my comp drink? [Everyone laughs.] No, I’m being serious! The Out NYC has not shown a profit yet.”

Bolding is mine.

I’ll point out here that:

a. Reisner himself is gay.

b. Reisner has run the gamut of being defensive to being “shaken” to his bones to now being just plain icky over his hosting the virulently anti-gay Sen. Ted Cruz in his home two weeks ago.

c. This is an excellent way to dig an even deeper hole…

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#BoycottIndiana Movement Continues To Grow

The anger and outrage over the recently passed “license to discriminate” law continues to grow and snowball.

Yelp, the crowd-sourcing review site released a statement saying, “it is unconscionable to imagine that Yelp would create, maintain, or expand a significant business presence in any state that encouraged discrimination by businesses against our employees, or consumers at large.”

Global drug giant Eli Lilly spokeswoman Janice Chavers told CNN, “We certainly understand the implications this legislation has on our ability to attract and retain employees. Simply put, we believe discriminatory legislation is bad for Indiana and for business.”

And Twitter has seen tons of reactions to the discriminatory law:

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One Million Moms Protest NBC’s New Series “One Big Happy”

As if on cue, One Million Moms (more like 60K) is off their bat about the new NBC TV show “One Big Happy” which features a pregnant lesbian mom having a baby with her best male friend, who just married his new wife.

OMMs is über-upset.

NBC’s “One Big Happy” is attempting to desensitize America and our children. This new show is damaging to our culture and harmful to our society for a number of reasons. This program glamorizes one night stands, n-dity, homosexuality, and foul language (such as v-gina and b-tch). 1MM is prepared to contact sponsors of “One Big Happy” requesting they pull financial support from the program. It is proven this strategy works!

It was not too long ago that NBC announced “The New Normal” had been canceled after only one season because of lack of advertisers! Please use the information we have provided to contact Synsodyne (GlaxoSmithKline) and ask they pull their financial support from “One Big Happy.”

I wasn’t aware “vagina” was a foul word? And they can’t even write the word “nudity” without dropping the “u?”

Seriously.

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One Million Moms vs “How To Get Away With Murder”

One Million Moms (TV watchdog arm of the anti-gay American Family Association) has sent out an email to encourage parents to call Kohls Department Store and complain about their commercials airing during the ABC hit series “How To Get Away With Murder.”

Via Right Wing Watch:

ABC’s creepy program “How To Get Away With Murder” did not end with the finale since it is now airing the season all over again. New episodes will begin on January 29 and in the meantime the network plans to air reruns – unless 1MM can intervene.

This show is about more than murder and violence. There is a whole slew of sins in this series that the network calls entertainment. This program has included assault and murder on several occasions, as well as graphic heteros-xual and homos-xual s-x scenes on a p-rn-graphic level, foul language, mockery of Jesus Christ and Christians, s-x with a minor (statutory r-pe), adultery and marital affairs. (A dash is used to ensure our emails get through to those who have signed up to receive our alerts. Otherwise, referencing specific words would cause our emails to be blocked by some Internet filters.)

This series pushes casual s-x as acceptable, even when with multiple partners or encounters in public places. This wicked show has many dark images including a rotting corpse, dead bodies and other gore. Even though the program airs on Thursday evenings at 10:00 p.m. ET/9:00 p.m. CT, it is not late enough for the violent, twisted plot and s-nsual scenes that are completely soft p-rn. Occasionally, like on this past Thanksgiving Day, it airs earlier at 9:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. CT and then again at its regular time slot.

OMM closes with a call to action to contact Kohls via social media and phone calls to cancel their advertising during HTGAWM.

Considering the series premiere had more than 14 million viewers on live broadcast, and over 20 million with DVR, I’m not sure Kohls will be looking to cut ties with the freshman hit series too quickly.

I should note that when the religious right calls for a boycott, it’s standing up for principle. When the LGBT community boycotts a company, the religious right calls it “homofascist bullying.”

There. Got that straight?

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American Family Association Targets Companies Who Don’t Say “Christmas” Enough

The American Family Association like to say they want corporations to stay “neutral” when it comes to cultural issues, but don’t believe them.

Today they published their list of “naughty or nice” companies – those that say “Christmas” in all of their holiday advertising or only sometimes.

Basically, this is their boycott list.

Except, their boycotts don’t actually end up achieving anything.

(h/t JMG)

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National Organization for Marriage boycotts Target for supporting equal rights

The ironically named National Organization for Marriage has launched a boycott of Target department stores due to the company’s recently announced support for same-sex marriage.

In the past, NOM has called for similar boycotts of companies like Starbucks, General Mills, and J.P. Morgan Chase for their support of LGBT causes.

Brian Brown writes for the NOMblog:

On Tuesday, the retail giant Target signed on to an amicus brief for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in two pending cases challenging the definition of marriage in Indiana and Wisconsin. Target joins with a number of other companies in signing the brief, including the Starbucks Coffee Company. But it is the spirit behind the brief, and its language, which are most noteworthy.

The brief uses extremely charged language to refer to laws defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. It calls them “the states’ bans [on same-sex marriage]” and, even more radically, “marriage discrimination” laws! Without providing any rationale at all, the brief states bluntly that “Same-sex couples should have the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples,” and refers to Indiana and Wisconsin’s traditional marriage laws as “an unproductive, inequitable, and unjust status quo.”…

Target and other companies need to be forced to realize that it is their alignment with the radical cause of redefining marriage that is “bad for business”–not states’ marriage laws that uphold and protect the common-sense idea that kids do best with a mom and a dad! So I’m announcing a new boycott today, against Target, for insulting consumers like you and me. The brief they signed in court this week insinuates that people like you and me, who would vote to uphold traditional marriage, as akin to segregationists and racial bigots. Would you want to shop at a place that viewed you in that way?…

Target and its peers in the corporate world need to realize that the countless Americans who believe in marriage as the union of a man and a woman will not stand for being insulted and demeaned.

It should be noted that in the past these boycotts have had exactly the opposite effect NOM is looking for.

For instance, Starbucks’ stock has risen more than 42% since NOM began it’s failed “boycott.”

Companies must be lighting candles in prayer that NOM will boycott them…

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Washington lobbyist wants to boycott any team that drafts out NFL hopeful Michael Sam

Washington DC lobbyist Jack Burkman (who would like a federal law passed banning gays from the NFL) says he is planning to organize a boycott of any football team that picks openly gay football player Michael Sam in the NFL Draft.

From Christian Post:

In a release issued Thursday, Burkman said he would “leverage his political clout” to ensure that the franchise that selects the 6-foot-2, 260-pound defensive end from Missouri would get “roughed up financially.”

“We shall exercise our First Amendment rights and shall not stop until the drafting NFL franchise cannot sell a single ticket, jersey or autographed football,” said Burkman. “In short, we shall be relentless.”

Burkman claims in the release that he is currently mobilizing “powerful grassroots organizations in 27 of the 50 states,” as well as a “coalition of Evangelical Christian leaders from across the nation to take part in a protest if Sam is drafted.”

(h/t JMG)

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Catholic League announces boycott of Guiness Beer over St. Patrick’s Day Parade sponsorship

Anti-gay Catholic League president Bill Donohue has called for his promised boycott petition against Guinness beer for their pulling sponsorship of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade over LGBT exclusion.

From the Catholic League website:

Gays have never been barred from marching in any St. Patrick’s Day parade—they simply cannot march under their own banner. Neither can pro-life Catholics. The message of the St. Patrick’s Day parade is simple: it is to honor St. Patrick. It is not about any other cause. That’s why we have parades that celebrate other causes: it’s called respect for diversity. In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 to sustain the right of private parade organizers to determine their own rules for participation. If this ruling were otherwise, then groups that seek to veto the message of any parade would be allowed to march, thus undercutting the purpose of the parade. This would effectively kill freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

Guinness is showing its disrespect for diversity, its support for intolerance, and its contempt for the First Amendment rights of everyone associated with the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Make no mistake about it, Guinness chose to boycott this parade because of its quintessentially Catholic nature: radicals who hate the moral teachings of the Catholic Church fingered this parade because of its religious significance. If Guinness reinstates its sponsorship of New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, this campaign will end. Until it does, I support the Catholic League’s boycott of Guinness.

I doubt Guiness is shaking in their boots.

Remember – when the haters pull out their boycotts it’s standing up for morals. When gays decide to boycott, we’re “bullies.”

Right…

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Brian Brown: Boycotts shut down 1st Amendment Rights (except when we do it)

“Did you know that Starbucks was recently reported to be perceived as the most LGBT-friendly brand in the U.S.? JC Penney, Target, Apple and Amazon round out the top five.

“If you’ve been following the national marriage battle over the past 18 months this should come as no surprise.

“Starbucks has said that gay ‘marriage’ is one of its corporate values. Target and JC Penny both support gay ‘marriage’ and the homosexual lifestyle in general, as does Apple.

“We only vote at a ballot box once a year at most. But we vote with our wallets every day. That’s why NOM maintains its Corporate Fairness Project – which includes the Dump Starbucks, Dump General Mills, and Thank Chick-fil-A initiatives – to inform you of what companies are taking active stands in the marriage battle, and where your money is best spent in defense of this sacred institution.” – Certified hate group leader Brian Brown, writing for NOM’s blog.