By Terry Vanderheyden
DETROIT, December 7, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The American Family Association (AFA) has announced that it has cancelled its boycott of the Ford Motor Company. Ford has announced cut-backs from its advertising budget for its money-losing Jaguar and Land Rover divisions, including putting a stop to advertising in homosexual magazines like The Advocate. However, Ford, which also owns Volvo, said it will continue to run Volvo ads in homosexual lifestyle publications.
The company claims the move has nothing to do with a looming boycott imposed by the AFA, although Chairman Donald E. Wildmon acknowledged that, “While we still have a few differences with Ford, we feel that our concerns are being addressed in good faith and will continue to be addressed in the future.”
The boycott, initiated in May, was suspended later that same month following talks with several local Ford dealers. The dealers requested a six-month period to see if AFA’s concerns could be addressed apart from a boycott. AFA agreed to their request.
“We are ending the boycott of Ford,” Wildmon announced last week, according to a release. Wildmon said it was the input from local dealers that made a resolution possible. “The dealers were very helpful in bridging a gap and opening a line of communication between AFA and Ford. The dealers are basically our kind of people who share many of our concerns,” Wildmon added.
Meanwhile, a homosexual advocacy group said it is “deeply dismayed” that Ford is pulling their advertising from the homosexual magazines. A coalition of homosexual groups, including Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) issued a “unity statement” criticizing what they call a “confidential agreement” between the AFA and Ford.
“If there is an agreement with AFA, we expect Ford to disavow it,” PFLAG stated in a release, signed by more than a dozen groups. “We expect Ford to publicly reaffirm its historic support for our community. And we expect Ford to meet with LGBT representatives this week to resolve these concerns.”
The Ford Foundation is the second-largest contributor to abortion-promoting organizations like Planned Parenthood, next only to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. However, the Ford Motor Company Fund, separate from the Foundation contributes substantial amounts toÂmany worthy causes.
Catholic League president William Donohue also pointed out that “The Ford Foundation is the largest single donor in the U.S. to one of the nation’s most virulently anti-Catholic organizations, Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC). The CFFC is not a critic of the Catholic Church-it is its expressed enemy. For years it has worked to trash the teachings of the Catholic Church, mock the pope, and oust the Vatican from the U.N.”
The Ford Foundation has been subversively promoting abortion in Mexico and Latin America by donating millions to so-called “Catholic” organizations which promote abortion. Crosswalk.com, a company which screens companies for pro-life and pro-family investors, reported in 1998 that the Ford Foundation contributed $875,000 (US) to “Catholics for Free Choice in Latin America” and “Catholics for the Right to Decide.” Ford was just as prolific in contributing to these pro-abortion causes in preceding years, donating $1,300,000 in 1996 alone.
Wildmon pointed out that the reason for the initiation of the Ford boycott was because when it comes to promoting the homosexual lifestyle, “Ford leads the way. From redefining family to include homosexual marriage, to giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to support homosexual groups and their agenda, to forcing managers to attend diversity training on how to promote the acceptance of homosexuality, to sponsoring a ‘commitment (marriage) ceremony,’ to sponsoring Gay Pride Parades, Ford leads the way,” he said.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Ford Foundation Stops Funding Anti-Semitism; Continues To Fund Anti-Catholicism
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/nov/03112004.html
Ford Motor Company Supports Homosexual ‘Marriage’ Movement
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05060206.html
Pro-Family Organization Suspends Ford Boycott
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05060702.html
Buffett, Other Foundations Are Huge Donors to Pro-Abortion Cause
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/aug/03080106.html
See the 2004 Ford Motor Fund annual report
https://www.ford.com/NR/rdonlyres/eyvndizavldi6xywvyzu3hh4wxnxtwfgpvvb2jgxmjnyzzdbv7cgcy37evvfap2jhgbdstbl375uwkopm2vvmswsaha/2004_Ford_Fund_Annual_Report.pdf