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The AFA, McDonald’s, and the NGLCC
By Marc | October 10, 2008
For the past few months, the American Family Association (AFA), had called for a boycott of McDonald’s restaurant over its joining the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber (NGLCC) of Commerce. Reasons for the ban have been based on the fast food giant’s not remaining neutral in the “culture war” and its VP of communications for Mickey-D’s, Richard Ellis, becoming a board member of the NGLCC. The AFA also accuses the NGLCC of lobbying “against laws protecting marriage as between a man and a woman”.
Well, now the boycott is over.
The AFA is claiming McDonald’s caved and is agreeing to the pro-family organization’s demands they remain impartial. McDonald’s, claims the boycott had nothing to do with it, but only that Ellis “‘made a personal decision to step down’ from the board after he got a new position with McDonald’s Canadian operations.” They won’t be replacing him on the NGLCC board with anyone else. The NGLCC, on the other hand, claims they don’t lobby for redefining marriage in the first place, which is evident from their website.
The AFA is dedicated to preserving and protecting families, as explained in their website.
AFA believes that the entertainment industry, through its various products, has played a major role in the decline of those values on which our country was founded and which keep a society and its families strong and healthy. For example, over the last 25 years we have seen the entertainment industry “normalize” and glorify premarital sex. During that time we have suffered a dramatic increase in teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS and abortion as a means of birth control.
We believe in holding accountable the companies which sponsor programs attacking traditional family values. We also believe in commending those companies which act responsibly regarding programs they support.
But, at the same time, I don’t know if they might be reading too much into the situation with the NGLCC. Because the Chamber is committed to aiding LGBT (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender) persons, primarily in business, they don’t lobby to redefine marriage, but they do work to allow same-sex couples to acquire some of the same benefits as traditionally married couples. Perhaps that led to the marriage issue, or maybe that’s what the AFA believes this will lead to, along with public LGBT events and other causes.
Something similar to McDonald’s has happened to Target, not by the AFA though. Claims were made the retail corporation hates veterans, doesn’t support “Toys for Tots”, and provides corporate grants only for “gay and lesbian causes”-which are untrue.
Even though the restaurant is one of the unhealthiest out there, our family enjoys it and it’s not real expensive. Corporations do things we don’t always agree with. In many cases, corporations can be pretty immoral and downright shady (Walmart, anyone?). But, as a massive corporation the size of McDonald’s, it’s really best not to get involved in issues a large percentage of the population has strong opinions one way or the other about. It’s just plain good for business.
But, on they other hand, would they support the AFA, Focus on the Family, or any other group whose primary focus is on traditional family values? I really don’t know. Those groups don’t encourage sexual “diversity” (to use a corporate buzzword), so McDonald’s would probably get lots of slack from non-Christian and LGBT groups for supporting “narrow-minded anti-gay” Christians. In today’s world, non-tradition (or at least the public support of it) is trendy.
But just for the record, Big Macs are still quite tasty.
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