BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum
Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond => Brokeback Mountain Open Forum => All Things Brokeback: Books, Interviews and More => Topic started by: iristarr on March 27, 2006, 09:14:37 pm
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This speaks for itself:
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/03/032706mart.htm
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So much time... So little to do...
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How sad it this. Well, I'll at least buy one of my copies of BBM from WalMart.
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Thanks for posting this one!
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Wal-Mart has a policy of not selling adult content movies and music in its stores, but BBM doesn't come close to violating their policy. They are going to sell the movie regardless of what the AFA has to whine about it. This is no doubt just another excuse to send a fundraising letter out.
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That so-called American Family Association (AFA) is back at it again. I've never been overly fond of WalMart because of the large chains making it hard for small businesses to compete, (and going there on a Saturday gives me a panic attack!). But I'm proud of them for taking this stand - bold type is mine.
-Lynne
"An anti-gay group is calling for a boycott of worldwide retailer Wal-Mart after accusing the store of promoting homosexuality.
Self proclaimed family values group the American Family Association (AFA) has targeted the chain ever since it joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in August, but now the AFA has launched a petition against the company claiming it deliberately stocks over a thousand items promoting gay values such as same sex marriage.
The AFA opposes the promotion of books and other items relating to homosexuality, similar to a campaign earlier this year when the organisation tried to stop gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain being sold on DVD.
At the time a Wal-Mart spokesman defended selling ’gay’ items, “The only thing we take into consideration when we decide to sell something is whether we think there's demand among our customers, We're a retailer. We want to sell things our customers will buy."
Wal-Mart joined the NGLCC last year stressing its commitment to working on diversity issues.
The store joins other brands such as the Ford Motor Company on a hitlist of so called ‘gay lifestyle promoters’ targeted by the AFA for working with the LGBT community.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/politics/2005-2816.html
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How sad it this. Well, I'll at least buy one of my copies of BBM from WalMart.
Although I had pre-ordered the WideScreen version from amazon.com I bought the Full Screen Version at Walmart here in Kenosha Wisconsin on April 4, 2006 at 8:52 AM. They had a big display right inside the front door. The cashier and two customers she was talking to made a some kind of wierd reference to my running in 'just' to get THIS film. It wasn't derogatory- it was just that I obviously made them uncomfortable with my smiling "gothca!" kind of face. Didn't bother me a bit. Just made me even happier to have it at last! Another precious Brokeback Mountain memory...
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This boycott of Wal-Mart is supposed to begin with this holiday season. I hadn't realized that the NGLCC/Wal-Mart partnership includes a pledge to include GLBT-owned businesses as suppliers:
"On Aug. 21, the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce announced that the world's largest retailer had joined a long list of corporate partners, all pledging to include LGBT-owned businesses on their supply radar. Evidently anxious about the response in the Bible belt, Wal-Mart kept the deal quiet and let the NLGCC announce the partnership. A sneaky move, but insufficient to evade the alert snouts of anti-gay Christian watchdogs.
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The Wal-Mart-NGLCC partnership isn't about God, Hell or preserving the family; it's about money. Facing waning sales, the company hoped to boost its customer base and combat its stigma in the gay community. They have done this before, partnering with Hispanic and other groups in hopes of fostering a community-friendly image. Usually, no one much cares.
But given the furious backlash from their bedrock Christian clientele, one does wonder why they don't just renege. After all, it's unlikely that the gay community - traditionally liberal and thus hardly enamored with Wal-Mart on any front - will suddenly embrace the chain, and if Don Wildmon and his wild minions succeed, the company could take a major financial hit. It will be interesting to see what happens after Thanksgiving, when the boycott officially kicks in.
The evangelical right continues to rejoice in backward parochialism and institutionalized bigotry. The need to satisfy their interests imposes sharp constraints on political parties and businesses alike. That the world's largest retailer has stood up to this so far is encouraging.
Let's hope it lasts."
http://www.yaledailynews.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=34370
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The leaders of the boycott ignore the real reasons why rural consumers shop at Wal-Mart: a) it's cheap, and b) there aren't other options. (The larger town near me, the local shopping hub, has... TWO Wal-Marts. Some choice.)
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The website of a Religious Right group called "Point of View", basically a syndicate that services conservative religious radio, has posted a list of "138 gay-friendly businesses." It's obviously intended to warn the faithful away.
You have to register to get into that site, but I did register and gave an email address that I use like an online P.O. box. Don't want to post the list here as it's very lengthy, but anyone who wants a copy just send me a personal message and I'll shoot it right over.
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Hey there, Marge
I think it's a list worth posting and we can regularly check back and keep it up to date. Plenty of users will be interested, I'm sure. As a consumer, I'd much rather spend my $ to promote socially responsible businesses.
If you'd like, start a new thread for it - Anything Goes is probably the best place for it. Or, you can email ([email protected]) or PM it to me and I'll be happy to do it.
Thanks!
Lynne
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Hey there, Marge
I think it's a list worth posting and we can regularly check back and keep it up to date. Plenty of users will be interested, I'm sure. As a consumer, I'd much rather spend my $ to promote socially responsible businesses.
If you'd like, start a new thread for it - Anything Goes is probably the best place for it. Or, you can email ([email protected]) or PM it to me and I'll be happy to do it.
Thanks!
Lynne
I would love to see that list! I am only aware of a few "gay friendly" Indianapolis based companies such as Eli Lilly and Steak & Shake. But I'm not really sure just HOW gay friendly those companies really are. I think it may be more of a "Don't Ask Don't Tell" attitude which is better than nothing, I guess. :-\
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The boycott was called off the day before Thanksgiving. For a summary of the reasons they gave and the reactions from both the AFA and gay rights groups, Click here (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15835445/).
There's also an interesting commentary at Americablog.com, titled "Let's document just how much the American Family Association utterly caved last night." They point out that Wal-Mart has not actually changed anything they are doing and that these "boycotts", which had little to no effect in the cases of Disney and Ford, are basically for publicity and fundraising purposes. Here's a link to the blog: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/lets-document-just-how-much-american.html
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I think it's a list worth posting and we can regularly check back and keep it up to date. Plenty of users will be interested, I'm sure. As a consumer, I'd much rather spend my $ to promote socially responsible businesses.
I just did post the list on Anything Goes, and hope people will add to it as it's far from a complete list. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Those of you who join the Human Rights Campaign might be aware of the corporate equality index list that they have. It lists the Fortune 500 companies and each company is given a number from 0-100. Companies with higher number are more gay-friendly than those with low numbers. Click the link, then click the first option under "interactive tool" on the right side, then when a new screen comes up, scroll down to the "ratings" and click "go". http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Work_Life&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=28508