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(Washington) The American Family Association is
mounting a campaign against Kraft Foods for its sponsorship of the Gay Games.
The AFA is urging its supporters to call Kraft
and express their anger at the sponsorship. "Kraft is ignoring emails.
Please make a personal phone call to Kraft and tell them to pull their financial
support from the 2006 Gay Games," the conservative Christian group told its
members in a mass email.
The organization began a campaign against Proctor
and Gamble in a similar way last year after the Cincinnati-based P&G
supported the repeal of an anti-gay law in that city. When the company did
not cave in to their demands that it reverse its position AFA began a boycott. (story)
In April AFA declared victory over Proctor &
Gamble after the company ended most of its advertising in the gay media. (story)
The group claimed that more than 300,000 people had signed pledges not to buy
P&G products.
The effect on the company is believed to be one
of the major reasons Microsoft decided to withdraw its support of a gay rights
bill in Washington following a meeting with a conservative Christian
leader. (story)
Following outrage from the company's gay workers and LGBT rights groups in
Washington the company reversed course again and announced it would support gay
rights measures in the future. (story)
Kraft has authorized its company logo to be
placed on the Gay Games official website as a major corporate sponsor. The
company makes popular products like Kraft Dinner, Kraft Singles, Oreo cookies,
Maxwell House coffee, and Ritz Crackers
The Gay Games will take place in Chicago from
July 15 - 22. Over 12,000 athletes from more than 100 countries will compete in
30 sports ranging from softball to dancesport, swimming to tennis.
The AFA has a long history of opposing LGBT civil
rights. It is a leading supporter of the Federal Marriage Amendment to ban
same-sex marriage and helped pass amendments to bar gay marriage in 11 states
last November.
In January, it declared popular cartoon character
SpongeBob SquarePants to be gay. AFA was angry that the character was used in a
video for schools aimed at combating discrimination.
©365Gay.com 2005
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