Issues@Hand
AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs
June 2006 – As the boycott of the Ford Motor Company picks up steam, the automaker continues to help finance homosexual organizations pushing same-sex marriage.
More than 20 pro-family groups are currently boycotting Ford, which also makes Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover, Mazda, Lincoln and Mercury.
AFA has learned that Ford dealers recently met with corporate officials, and the boycott’s effect on sales was the major topic of discussion.
In fact, while Ford’s financial difficulties are not new, the company’s woes appear to be accelerating. The automaker’s sales dropped 5% in March and 7% in April, and Ford’s stock has dropped more than 14% since the boycott began, reaching the lowest price in nearly 20 years.
“We’ve said all along that Ford should be concentrating on making better automobiles, rather than getting in the middle of the culture war,” AFA Chairman Don Wildmon said. “The latest round of bad economic news seems to bear this out.”
Instead, Ford continues to risk alienating consumers by its enthusiastic support of the gay agenda. For example, the automaker is financially supporting the Motor City Pride event in Ferndale, Michigan, scheduled June 2-4. The homosexual celebration includes a same-sex “commitment ceremony,” which the organizers admit is being held to “make a political statement.”
The company also continues to fund homosexual political groups to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ford has sponsored the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation; Human Rights Campaign; Gay, Lesbian Straight Education Network; and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, among others. All of these organizations are vigorously promoting the legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S.
At the same time all this has been happening, Ford seems more concerned about what homosexual activists are thinking than pro-family consumers.
For example, in April the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied a request by Ford to keep a shareholder resolution pertaining to homosexual marriage off the agenda at their shareholders meeting May 11.
The resolution simply requests “that Ford Motor Company amend its written equal employment opportunity policy to exclude any reference to privacy issues related to sexual interests, activities or orientation.”
One reason cited by Ford in their request to the SEC was that the company did not want to face a possible boycott by homosexual groups.
“I find Ford’s logic in asking the SEC to omit the resolution interesting,” said Wildmon. “Ford is saying that they are concerned that the resolution would anger homosexual groups who might then boycott the company, but they did not fear the boycott by the pro-family groups. I think consumers will show Ford just how wrong the company is.” 
