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| Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, suspended
after less than a week a boycott of the Ford Motor Company after the conservative
group was promised a meeting with high-level executives with the automaker.
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: EARTHA MELZE COMMENTS
 
Less than a week after the American Family Association, a Mississippi-based anti-gay
group, declared a boycott of the Ford Motor Company, the boycott was suspended
until December pending a promised meeting with company executives.
The AFA said it initiated the boycott on May 31 in response to Ford’s
support of gay groups, advertising in gay publications, gay-inclusive workplace
policies and sponsorship of Pride festivals.
Ford earned a 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate
Equality Index. (See related story, Page 34)
According to the AFA, Ford has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to
gay civil rights groups such as the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and
the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Campaign.
On a Web site created for the boycott, the AFA argued that consumers should
not buy Ford products — including Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar
and Land Rover autos — because profits from those sales would go to organizations
that favor same-sex marriage.
The boycott suspension was declared soon after the owner of a Ford dealership
in Dallas, Jerry Reynolds, was alerted to the boycott and grew concerned that
it might impact his business. Reynolds said he met with the father of AFA Executive Director
Tim Wildmon, Don, and arranged a meeting between the AFA and concerned dealers and struck
a suspension deal.
“If I can get some top Ford executives to sit down with you and your
group, would you suspend the boycott?” Reynolds said he asked Wildmon.
The longtime conservative activists immediately agreed, Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the aim of the meeting with Ford is to “see what things
most bother [the AFA] and what can be changed to make them happy,” Reynolds
said.
“If the AFA has input into the marketing content, it could have benefits
to both Ford and the AFA,” he said.
“I believe in family values, too. I’m a Christian, too,”
Reynolds added.
When the boycott was announced just a week earlier, Ford responded with a statement
that it valued all people, including gay men and lesbians. Ford said, “We
are glad to see that this spirit of inclusion is evident in the practices of
other auto-makers that do business in this country as well.”
An AFA representative confirmed suspension of the boycott in an e-mail to the
Blade, but declined to explain why it was lifted.
An article in the online Automotive Business Review, published before the boycott
was suspended, said the AFA attack on Ford was unlikely to generate problematic
publicity for the automaker and might even increase sales from gay customers.
Dan Sturgis of Pride at Work, the gay and lesbian caucus of the AFL-CIO, which
represents the United Auto Workers, said that when the boycott was announced,
gay and lesbian workers at Ford were reassured by the company that Ford’s
inclusive policies would not be affected.
Sturgis said Ford officials told him that they were receiving an equal mix
of support for, and complaints against, the company’s gay-positive policies.
When the boycott suspension was declared Ford reiterated that it valued all
people and said, “We look forward to having an open dialogue with the
AFA that leads to greater understanding.”
The Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force released
statements celebrating the quick end to the boycott.
Both groups said that they were not concerned that Ford had agreed to meet
with the AFA.
“Ford has made it very clear that they will not respond to AFA demands,
and the AFA has backed down,” said Roberta Sklar, communications director
for the Task Force. “We have no reason to be concerned about Ford having
a conversation with the AFA.”
Steve Koval contributed to this report.
Eartha Melzer can be reached at emelzer@washblade.com.
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