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queerVOICE
Boycotts
James Duggan ©2008 |
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Under pressure from a few anti-queer viewers in the United Kingdom, the Heinz Company pulled last week a television commercial for Heinz Deli Mayo which depicted a kitchen scene involving two children, a father and a male deli cook with a New York accent, whom the children addressed as "Mum."
At the end of the "controversial" (?) commercial, the cook kisses the father as he leaves for work.
The United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority announced that the commercial drew some 200 complaints with reasons ranging from it being too offensive to inappropriate and unsuitable for children.
Heinz sources claimed that they withdrew the commercial because of "consumer feedback." Nigel Dickie offered an apology from the company to anyone who they may have offended because of the two men kissing.
What was Heinz thinking about the aftermath? It struck me that their apology was empty.
While responding to the protests of a handful of anti-queer voices, they gave the middle finger to the queer community. Did they think that we queers might be offended that they withdrew an innocent commercial showing a normal queer family doing no less then their heterosexual counterparts?
Stonewall, a British gay rights group, has urged gay consumers to boycott the company.
Boycotts, one of the great traditions given to us by the Irish, have been effective tools in bringing about change in how companies operate and how they treat both its employees and its customers.
The first boycott I remember being interested in was in 1977 when Anita Bryant led an anti-queer campaign against Dade County, Florida after they passed a human-rights ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. At the time, Bryant was the spokesperson for the Florida Citrus Commission who supported her anti-queer campaign called Save our Children.
The results? Florida orange growers lost millions. Bryant was fired. The ordinance was overturned by an overwhelm majority. The boycott spread and the nation was finally talking about queers and our rights.
I didn't drink Florida orange juice for years.
Another boycott that queers and many others participated in nationwide was against the Coors Brewing Company. The boycott against Coors brought such significant changes that it now earns a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign's 2008 Corporate Equality Index Ratings (CEIR).
Boycotts have been very effective tools for the queer community, but what Heinz has failed to understand is that no significant boycott by any anti-queer group has either been successful or effective in bringing about their desired change. Recent examples of failed boycotts against queer positive companies are Walt Disney Company and Ford Motor Corporation, both of which currently maintain a perfect score of 100 on the CEIR scale.
Our boycott power can be found in of our $712 billion-a-year queer consumer spending; by 2011 it is expected to grow to $835 billion. But how do we organize? Who gives the call to rally the troops and spread the word?
Most people (queers included) simply believe that someone else will do it for us: "If it's bad, I'm sure I'll hear about it." That mentality of just letting the other guy do it is easy to fall prey to. For far too long I took this same attitude. But now there is way too much information at our finger tips not to do our personal due diligence against the companies that we chose to give our money.
Reviewing the Corporate Equality Index Ratings, I see that I would rather go the Target who scored an acceptable 80 to the Wal-Mart who bottomed out at 40. (Did you know that there is currently a queer boycott of Wal-Mart?) Last year they caved into the demands of the conservative right and dropped their support of queer organizations and programs.
Where do you buy your gas? If it's ExxonMobil, perhaps you might want to re-think that! ExxonMobil scored a ZERO out of 100 on the CEIR scale. There's been a queer boycott of this anti-queer ExxonMobil since 2001. So you shouldn't be spending your queer dollars with them!
It's important for the advancement of our civil rights that we know what companies that support us and those that don't. Heinz, with its pitiful 45 score, can keep it's mayo from now on.
I'm going with the mayo that respects and supports queers . . . Hellmann's, they scored a respectable 85!
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12th Street Gym - Philadelphia |
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Decorated Army Sargeant Discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" |
WASHINGTON, June 26 -- Decorated Army Sergeant Darren Manzella has been discharged under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law banning lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans from military service, effective June 10. The Iraq war veteran was the first openly gay active duty service member to speak with the media while serving inside a war zone. In December 2007, Manzella was profiled by the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes. He told correspondent Lesley Stahl that he served openly during much of his time in the Army, with the full support of his colleagues and command. "The discharge of battle-tested, talented service members like Sergeant Manzella weakens our military in a time of war. National security requires that Congress lift the ban on gays in the military and allow commanders to judge troops on their qualifications, not their sexuality," said Adam Ebbin, Communications Director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). SLDN reports that a growing number of service members are also serving openly without incident. The organization is aware of more than 500 troops who are 'out' to their colleagues and, in some cases, their commands. Sergeant Manzella said, "My sexual orientation certainly didn't make a difference when I treated injuries and saved lives in the streets of Baghdad. It shouldn't be a factor in allowing me to continue to serve." Manzella, 30, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2002 and was twice deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While under fire on the streets of Baghdad, he provided medical care to his fellow soldiers, Iraqi National Guardsmen and civilians. He was awarded the Combat Medical Badge, and also received several other awards recognizing his courage and service. For more information on Sergeant Manzella, SLDN and the campaign to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," visit sldn.org
SOURCE: Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
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Lift The Ban |
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What It Looks Like From Here
A Qt Exclusive
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We've all got queer film on the brain! We're approaching the season for queer films at the 14th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (PIGLFF), July 10-22. But it shouldn't be surprising that there are some individual titles that are currently being released in theaters nationwide for LGBT audiences.
Thus Chris & Don, a documentary about the lifelong relationship between the queer artist Don Bachary and the queer writer Christopher Isherwood, has already begun winning accolades from major critics like David Edelstein, in last week's New York magazine. What could be better than a film about two queer icons and a long-lasting end endearing relationship?
Director Tina Mascara tells the story, according to Edelstein, of "a gay English blue blood who in the fifties picked up a working-class stud muffin 30 years his junior on a Santa Monica beach and became obsessed with him. Primed as we are by a culture rich in both homophobia and dirty old men, we can be forgiven for anticipating a sordid cautionary tale."
"It's a shock--a happy shock--when 'Chris & Don' recounts a love that approaches the transcendental." writes Edelstein.
The film is our queer history on the big screen. It preserves, in its retelling, on the one hand, the love story of two men, and, on the other hand, the private world made public of queer celebrities, each in their own right (Isherwood, author of the Berlin Stories, the basis of Cabaret, being the more Internationally-renowned than Bachary), leaving the mark in their time and for all eternity.
Viewers of the film experience the reaffirmation that same-sex relationships are valid, complex, varying and challenging as any heterosexual pairing, marriage or otherwise.
Edelstein concludes, "'Chris & Don' is the rarest of documentaries: a realistic portrait of the human spirit."
Well, queer Philadelphia made the cut.
According to the editors of Genre (June, 2008), who, in their Best Bars in America (of course, they're always talking Queer America), they award the queen's crowns in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection to Pure, where they declare, "Nightlife done right. Free-spirited staff remind us it is the city of brotherly love. Bi-level dance floors and a third floor for chillin' with your hottie. Easy on the moisturizer because you will break a sweat"; Bump, where they advise, "Get your groove on and bump (pun intended) all night at this sophisticated lounge. Friday and Saturday host the city's biggest and brightest DJs"; and The Bike Stop, where they observe, "Four levels offering multitudes of pleasures for Philly's leather community. Cruise on the first level, watch the game on the second, dance on the third, and the basement?
Well, let's just say what goes on in the basement, stays in the basement. Woof!
So, congrats to owners Michael and Billy Weiss and Jim Madden, respectively!
Congrats also to the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) and the Gay Philadelphia Travel Caucus (GPTC) of which I'm a founding board member and their award-winning campaign, "Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay." The impact of this campaign has reached far and wide, capturing the attention of national media outlets like Genre.
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Chiropractic and Sports Rehabilitation |
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I Wish I Had Said That: |
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"[It would be about] everything, all aspects of my life. All the drama, the intrigue, the sex, the romance, the work. I'm a shameless human being."
Queer fashion designer Marc Jacobs on his wish to have his own reality TV show: (New York, November 19, 2007)
"In the black community, we have this thing about being on the down low. There ate so many black men who are gay, but have trouble coming out. A lot of times these guys don't want to because of the effect it would have on their whole family."
Queer-friendly actress Loretta Devine of "Dreamgirls" and "Dirt Laundry" on the issue of African-American men coming out as gay (Instinct, February 2008)
"You should have a wardrobe of jeans in different washes and fits--from then pair that's so comfortable you could work out in them to the pair that you can wear with a tie and a sports jacket to diner."
Queer fashion designer Michael Kors (also of Bravo's Project Runway) on advice on the place of jeans in today's men's wardrobe (Details, September 2007)
I'm Glad I Never Said That:
"Homosexuality is associated with higher rates of sexual promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, and child sexual abuse, and those are all reasons for us to be concerned about placing children into that kind of setting."
Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council during an episode of 30 Days on the FX Network
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Thom's Event Tips
Another Qt Exclusive
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Saturday, June 28
It's absolutely your last chance! "Six in the City," the sixth annual Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Theatre Festival, continues with several productions and performances, throughout the city, at several venues, including "Q: The Songs of Martin & Biello," music by Dan Martin and lyrics by Michael Biello, directed by Bill Felty, and musical direction by Rob Blackwell.
The must-see production celebrates the longtime creative collaborative duo of Martin and Biello who have amassed a critically acclaimed body of work that this 80-minute performance without intermission will entertain audiences in Philadelphia like they have in cities from New York City to Chicago, 8 pm, Walnut Street Studio Theatre 5, 825 Walnut St., Fifth Floor, Center City, Philadelphia.
For information, visit pgltf.org
Sunday, June 29
Show your pride at the 39th annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March, noon to 6pm, Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, to Christopher & Greenwich Streets, with more than 300 organizations, more than 500,000 attendees and over 1 million spectators at New York City's largest event of its kind that commemorates the beginnings of the pride march in 1970 and marks the celebration of the historic Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village.
From the famed Fifth Avenue, the march then follows the Lavender Line to its conclusion at the intersection of Christopher and Greenwich Streets. Longer than St. Patrick's green line by many blocks, the Line is an identifying symbol of New York City's Pride March and will mark all four miles of the March's route.
The route moves south on Fifth Avenue and turns right (west) on 8th Street and proceeds to the top of Christopher Street by the Jefferson Market Library. From there, the March will pass down Stonewall Place and the Stonewall Inn, site of the riots in June of 1969.
Led by this year's Grand Marshals, Gilbert Baker, Candis Cayne, The NYC LGBT Community Center and PFLAG NYC (Parents, Families and Friends of Gays and Lesbians), the March will include floats, marching bands, and representatives from more than 300 LGBT organizations and businesses from all over the Northeast. In addition, over 1 million spectators will line the march route.
The Moment of Silence: At 2:00 PM, the entire March falls silent, all music, bands, singing and talking ceases as everyone along the four-mile long route, marchers and spectators alike, stops, stands and remembers those we have lost to AIDS. It is Heritage of Pride's (HOP), producers of the march, way of ensuring that we all remember that the AIDS crisis is not over and that much more work needs to be done to stop the pandemic in this city and around the world. Red Ribbons of Remembrance, each with a place to write the name of a loved one who has died of AIDS, are distributed along the March route. All donations received by HOP for the Ribbons of Remembrance benefit worthwhile New York City service organizations. Ribbons of Remembrance are graciously underwritten by amfAR (the foundation for AIDS research).
For information, www.nycpride.org
Monday, June 30
It's that time of the month when Greater Philadelphia Professional Network (GPPN) hosts its monthly event, 6-8:30pm, at Jack's Firehouse, 2130 Fairmount St, between 21st and 22nd Streets, Philadelphia, with complimentary appetizers, cash bar with specialty and discount drinks, door prizes, including passes to the 14th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, which will also be the focus of the annual preview of the event by Thom Cardwell, Development Director of the Philadelphia Film Society and President of GPPN.
Admission for all is only $5 per person and bring business cards and marketing materials for distribution. There will also be 30-minutes tours of the Eastern State Penitentiary.
For information, visit www.gppn.org
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August is Better in Philly |
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Help Fight
Discrimination in PA |
Did you know that in 75% of the State of Pennsylvania you could be fired just because you're queer?
Help ADD Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender people to the state's anti-discrimination law
Call your PA Legislator and tell them to pass
HB 1400
and
SB 761.
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