Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Thank General Mills and stick it to NOM!

As you all may or may not know, the National Organization for Marriage is angry at the Fortune 500 company General Mills.

General Mills recently announced its opposition to the anti-marriage equality amendment that NOM is working hard to pass in Minnesota.

Not only that but Ken Charles, vice president of global diversity and inclusion for General Mills, recently testified in favor of ENDA (Employee Non-Discrimination Act which would extend protections in hiring, promotion, and advancement to members of the lgbt community.

Naturally NOM is upset over all of this and has organized a Dump General Mills with its affiliate organizations:

In an e-mail to supporters, Minnesota for Marriage called the move “stupid” and announced it would be hold four days' worth of “Dump General Mills Rallies.”

“I know it seems odd for a company who spends billions of dollars marketing products to moms and dads with young children to do such a thing, but General Mill has tried to please a small minority of individuals who feel entitled to change the definition of marriage for all of society. They have calculated that we won't fight back. They have grossly miscalculated us!” wrote Andy Parrish, deputy campaign manager for Minnesota for Marriage.

The daily rallies will take place across from the company's Minneapolis headquarters starting on Tuesday, June 26. Supporters are being called on to bring General Mills products from home and dump them in a trailer to be donated to a local food bank.

Today's rally garnered a total so small that it could probably fit into a Cheerio. NOM itself has a Dump General Mills webpage petition (which I will not link to) which already has over 7,000 signatures.

I think we can do better than that.

The organization fighting that awful amendment in Minnesota, Minnesota United for All Families, has organized its own petition asking folks to thank General Mills for its support of the lgbt community:

Thank you General Mills!
Fortune 500 Company General Mills has just announced that the Golden Valley, MN corporation opposes the constitutional amendment seeking to limit the freedom to marry for committed same-sex couples in Minnesota.

Sign our petition today thanking General Mills for supporting all Minnesota families!
Click here to read about General Mill's decision on their company blog.

I think it would be in everyone's best interest to sign the petition thanking General Mills. It would definitely show that we appreciate whenever companies support our community.

And let's face it - you know you want to stick it to NOM.

Here is your chance.





Bookmark and Share

'Religious right claims about gays in the military proven false' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

What they said… - An awesome post comparing religious right claims of the so-called dire consequences of gays and lesbians serving openly in the military with the reality of what is actually happening. 

 Congressional groups join for ''Invisible Lives'' forum on black LGBT experience - About time this got some attention.

 Janet Mefferd has No Use for Gay Rights 'Talking Points' that Make 'No Mention of Sodomy' - It's all about "booty sex" with these people. 

 Mild Wingnut Slap Fight: Porno Pete vs. Tony Perkins and Rand Paul - What if religious right talking heads had a short feud and no one cared?  

Gay Conversion Therapy Devastated My Family - A sad story about "ex-gay" therapy with a happy ending.


Bookmark and Share

Anti-gay groups peddling discredited information, bearing false witness

Randy Thomasson
The American Family Association's One News Now is trumpeting a fact page put together by a California religious right group which supposedly proves that people are not born gay.

But it seems to me that the fake news source has put itself in a nasty corner:
A leading pro-family group has put together a fact page about alternate lifestyles as a tool to educate people that they are not "born gay."

 Randy Thomasson explains that SaveCalifornia.com's "Not Born This Way" webpage aims to educate individuals on the truth about alternate sexual orientations. The page provides facts about LGBT lifestyles, as well as scientific research disproving the popular claim that people are born homosexual.

"Without any reputable evidence, the entertainment culture, the uneducated media and homosexual activists have seduced today's teenagers, in particular, to believe that people are born homosexual," Thomasson recognizes. "However, science has found no biological basis for homosexuality, bisexuality or transsexuality."

The SaveCalifornia.com president reports that the homosexual lifestyle has the highest rate of cancer, sexually-transmitted diseases and early deaths. He also notes that the American Psychological Association has reversed its statement that people are born gay, admitting that there is no "gay gene."

First of all, let's put this "gay gene" argument out of the way. No major gay rights group or medical organization has ever said that there may be a "gay gene." The "gay gene" argument has never pushed by people on our side of the spectrum. It is a straw man argument pushed by religious right groups.

Legitimate medical organizations have said that sexuality is fluid and there is a danger with someone attempting to alter their sexual orientation via reparative or "ex-gay" therapy.