CHICAGO, Illinois - July 19, 2008 -
Your dollars for Happy Meals and Big Macs could end up paying for sex-change
operations for McDonald's employees if the home of the Golden Arches continues
its promotion of homosexuality, according to a pro-family group that has joined
an expanding boycott of the fast-food restaurants and its Ronald McDonald's
mascot.
"If McDonald's restaurants and franchises follow the small business advice of the company's new homosexual partner - the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), which received a $20,000 grant from McDonald's - there will be chaos," said Peter LaBarbera, chief of Americans for Truth.
His was one of several groups, also including The Culture Campaign, Liberty Counsel, the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, and the Illinois Family Institute, that held a news conference at the Chicago headquarters of the fast-food chain to join with a boycott call issued originally by the American Family Association.
LaBarbera said that the agenda supported by the NGLCC is pretty extreme. For example, it recommends companies should "permit the [transsexual/cross-dressing] transitioning employee to use restrooms that correspond to his or her full-time gender presentation, regardless of where the individual is in the transitioning process."
"In other words, if a 'transgender man' or, say, employee at a McDonald's believes he is ‘supposed’ to be a woman and so wears a dress and high heels, he should be able to use the women’s restroom. That surely would do wonders for the productivity and workplace environment of female employees and customers at a small business, including all those local McDonald's franchises!" said LaBarbera.
He said other advice from NGLCC includes:
- Use politically correct, 'inclusive' language: 'Ensure that invitations to company events use terms like partner or significant other rather than spouse.'
- Provide 'adoption assistance' for homosexual 'domestic partners' - thus the corporate world helps create households for children that are intentionally fatherless or motherless.
- Provide health care coverage to transsexual employees for so-called 'medically necessary surgical procedures' - will your Quarter-Pounder purchase help subsidize 'sex-change' operations for gender-confused men?
The news conference was at the
McDonald's restaurant adjacent to McDonald's world headquarters, but LaBarbera
said the Chicago media, with one exception, ignored the issue totally.
"Chicago's CBS TV affiliate
fields a float every year at the city's bawdy homosexual 'pride' parade, but
CBS and other major Chicago secular media were no-shows at AFTAH's pro-family
coalition press conference," he said.
"Predictably, I suppose, we
were completely blacked out by Chicago and Illinois major media - which had no
excuse since they were inundated with press releases about the event by four
pro-family organizations," LaBarbera said.
Nevertheless, he said people are
paying attention, since some 200,000 people have already signed the boycott petition.
He noted McDonald's got an 85
percent rating by the Human Rights Campaign's pro-homosexual scorecard,
indicating both its advocacy for homosexuality and its failure to support
pro-family organizations.
"McDonald's has wisely chosen
to alter its menu to promote healthy eating habits. Now it needs to examine its
fiscal priorities and stop rewarding unhealthy lifestyles - starting with an
end to corporate subsidies for homosexual and transsexual behavior," said
LaBarbera. "Homosexuality is unhealthy, especially for men: 71 percent of
male HIV cases in 2005 involved men who have sex with men, according to the
Centers for Disease Control. And syphilis and other sexually transmitted
diseases continue to afflict men practicing homosexuality at rates
astronomically disproportionate to the rest of society."
"Unfortunately, McDonalds has
chosen to side with militant homosexual activists over people with traditional
values," said Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel. "The company has
further escalated the controversy by lodging a personal attack against the tens
of millions of Americans who support traditional sexual morality and legitimate
marriage. While referring to Christians and other people with traditional
values, McDonald's spokesman Bill Whitman arrogantly told the Washington Post
that, 'Hatred has no place in our culture,' thereby suggesting that people who
support the historical definition of marriage are simply motivated by hate.
This insult is highly offensive, and anyone who supports traditional marriage
should boycott McDonalds and tell the company why they’re doing so.
"McDonalds should focus on
food quality and safety issues instead of attacking the values held by the
majority of the world’s people, who consider marriage between a man and a woman
as the normal standard. McDonalds' personal attack against those who support
the traditional definition of marriage, while siding with a narrow group that
promotes a radical redefinition, shows that company executives are out to
lunch. McDonalds might as well change their signs to read 'billions and
billions insulted,'" said Mathew Staver, chief executive officer of
Liberty Counsel.
"It's a shame that McDonald's
would tarnish their family-friendly image," said AFA Chairman Don Wildmon.
"But the company has ramped up its support of the homosexual agenda,
(leaving) us no option but to call for a boycott."
Wildmon wrote the company with a
plea for McDonald's to remain neutral in the culture war by removing McDonald's
name, logo, and Vice President of Communications Richard Ellis' endorsement
from the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) web site (where
McDonald’s is cited as a partner and ally). McDonalds has ignored both
requests.
"To put it politely, the
company thumbed its nose at the Christian community," said Wildmon.
McDonald’s donated $20,000 to the
National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in exchange for membership and a
seat on the group’s board of directors. The NGLCC lobbies Congress on a wide
range of issues related to their agenda, including homosexual marriage.
"This boycott isn't about
hiring homosexuals, or homosexuals eating at McDonald's or how homosexual
employees are treated. It is about McDonalds corporation refusing to remain
neutral in the culture war. The company has chosen to give the full weight of
their corporation to promoting the (radical) homosexual agenda, including
homosexual marriage," the AFA said.
The pro-family groups are encouraging
families to do two things: sign, print and distribute a Boycott McDonalds
petition at www.boycottmcdonalds.com; and call the local McDonalds to politely
tell the manager they are boycotting the chain until it stops promoting the
homosexual agenda.
LaBarbera said neutrality is “the
least that pro-family people should expect from a place like McDonalds.”
McDonalds officials declined to
return a call seeking comment on the placement of its executive endorsement on
the homosexual advocacy organization. But the corporation sent a subsequent
e-mail confirming its support for the agenda of the homosexual business lobby.
"McDonald's is indeed a
Corporate Partner and Organizational Ally of NGLCC. Our Vice President of U.S.
Communications, Richard Ellis, was recently elected to its board of
directors," said a brief statement from Heidi M. Barker, senior director
of media relations.
A spokeswoman for NGLCC refused to speak with us when
asked about McDonald's financial contribution to the group. But she did says the
organization would not release information on its sponsors.