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Post by admin on Jul 4, 2008 8:30:07 GMT -5
I'm starting this thread with an eye towards making our members aware of things in the news that are either good for us or bad for us. Feel free to add your own contributions here. It's for everyone. To start things off, here is an article on McDonald's standing up to the homophobic group "American Family Association" (AFA), who have called for a boycott because McDonald's refuses to cave into their demands to discriminate againt gays and lesbians. It's hoped that we, gays and lesbians, not just Blue Pride members, patronize those who support us and steer clear of those who discount us and discriminate against us. I'll be having a Big Mac today for sure. They're getting MY money from here on in. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- McDonald’s Stands Up to Anti-Gay Group
The anti-gay American Family Association, which condemns gay and lesbian family causes like marriage equality, has called for a boycott of fast-food chain restaurant McDonald’s. McDonald’s, however, has given the AMA notice that it’s not about to allow its policies to be dictated by anti-gay groups. In a May 29 letter to AFA founder and chairman Donald Wildmon, Pat Harris, Global Chief Diversity Officer for McDonald’s, wrote, "Our founder Ray Kroc once said, ’None of us is as good as all of us.’" Added Harris, "This is a core value of McDonalds." Harris’ letter continued, "We treat our employees and our customers with respect and dignity, regardless of their ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other factors. We support out employees’ personal involvement in organizations of their choice." Added Harris in the letter to Wildmon, "McDonald’s is a trusted and well-respected neighbor, employer and corporate citizen in communities across the U.S. We will continue to support our people and their right to lie and work in an inclusive society." McDonald’s Stands Up to Anti-Gay Group
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Post by 1dbigjim563 on Jul 4, 2008 17:43:29 GMT -5
Good Idea Blue Pride And speaking of the American Family Association, see my post today in Sports and Media concerning the Heinz Commercial.
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Post by bluepride on Jul 5, 2008 8:19:51 GMT -5
<<I'll be having a Big Mac today for sure.>>Uh....just thought I'd take the wind out of the sails of burner, maxwelldaemon, hoosiercop and anyone else......before they say it.....! Yeah, I know lately I look like I've been hanging around McDonald's a lot, judging from my recently slightly ample gut! My waist will be back to it's svelte 33 inches in about a week, thank you very much!! Down from 34! ;D Things could be worse....I could have a gut like exgoalli!!!!
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Post by blu06 on Jul 5, 2008 11:48:41 GMT -5
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Post by bluepride on Jul 7, 2008 8:26:59 GMT -5
I didn't think I'd be posting an alert here so soon but here goes: The photo above was sent to a New York based gay website. The Rite-Aid in question is located in one of the most gay areas of New York City. Sixth Avenue and West 13th Street, just a block up from NYC's G/L Community Center. I've shopped there on numerous occasions. But no more. Here is a quote from a story on "Queerty". Please make note of the corporate phone numbers and branch phone number. To think I shopped at a Rite-Aid 2 days ago. I'll be taking my business elsewhere from here on in.: "Rite Aid simply ain’t right. A reader sent in this image from one of the pharmacy’s New York City locations (on Sixth Avenue at West 13th Street) and, as you can see, it’s not the most welcoming message.
This isn’t the first time Rite-Aid has found itself in a queer controversy. A DC-based manager came under fire last year after booting an “overly affectionate” gay couple.
The best part of this sign, we think, is mention of “anything that would make our customers uncomfortable is prohibited in the store.” We suppose manager Tom Marquez didn’t consider the gay customers in that one, huh? Someone else must have, because the sign, which appeared around 7am on Sunday, was soon removed…
And, just for your reference, here are Rite Aid’s corporate numbers and the number for Mr. Marquez’s location: 212-727-3720. Do with that what you will…"RITE-AID: CONTACT US
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2008 16:10:53 GMT -5
Boy , do I miss the good old days!!! From 1969 through 1979, if a store in the village put up a sign like that, hundreds of us would have marched on them and shut the place down. In those days at the "Firehouse" and at the headquarters of the Gay Activists Alliance, we would have put a "Kiss in" together. We would have walked into that store and locked lips for all to see. We would have sued them for an apology and put pickets around all of their stores in New York until they changed their tune. It's a shame I don't live in New York any more. I used to be on the board of directors at the LGBT Community Services Center. I would have loved to put some kind of action together to teach that store a lesson. Where are the young gays today? Where is their rage?
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Post by maxwelldaemon on Jul 7, 2008 18:57:08 GMT -5
I called the store this morning to speak with "Mr. Marquez." A female simply stated that no such person existed, and someone not connected with the store had put up the sign. Hmmm, I am not convinced. When I asked why they haven't denounced this in the press, she just hung up. I will follow up with a letter to corporate headquarters; suggesting that this policy sickens me, and maybe they should relocate to Iowa...
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Post by hoosiercop on Jul 8, 2008 5:31:23 GMT -5
This is kind of off topic, but this is perhaps an example of how hard things are going to keep being as our society "evolves." We are a world society of rapid dissemination of information, not all of which is legitimate, actual, or factual.
I'm not sure what this case really is. An act of a bigoted man/company? An act of a gay activist looking to spark anger/protest? An act of a bigot that just wants to make GLBT people feel unwanted, and just used the store as a media outlet?
Hell, so many people base their views on what they hear anymore. This scares me as it relates to the upcoming presidential election. Supporters on both sides of the issue have, and will continue to, circulated false rumors by various methods (most notably via the internet). Some people suddenly will like or not like a particular candidate because of what they have just heard of read. Sometimes these tactics can backfire, but a candidate could easily smear without having anything linking the smear to their campaign. Just have some random supporter that no one knows of find a way to post "information" about a candidate online, or create one of those annoying forwarded emails that so many people love to send and resend. You would be amazed how many people will believe that stuff, whether true or not. I'm surprised we haven't seen more of this tactic yet, but I am sure we will in the future. I've already seen forwarded email messages that say things about McCain and about Obama that are quite damaging, yet have nothing to show that they are true. But people will still put stock into the messages.
Welcome to the world where guerrilla tactics (good and bad) will permeate the whole of our lives.
I guess the penultimate question of our future is "Who/what do you trust/believe and who/what don't you trust/believe?"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2008 8:40:04 GMT -5
Speaking about the good old days, does anybody here remember the Eastern Airlines kiss in? I think it was about 1972 when a gay guy went to Laguardia airport to meet his partner. He was flying in on the shuttle from Boston. Anyway, when his partner got off the plane, he gave him a welcome home kiss. This offended the gate agent who called the police. The men were arrested in baggage claim for disorderly conduct.. They protested, backup was called and a major scene took place as they carted them off to jail. When we at the GAA got wind of this, a bunch of us decided to put a kiss in together. We got on the Eastern Airlines shuttle and headed for Boston. When we were half way there, we started kissing and all hell broke loose!!! The stewardess was yelling "stop that!! stop that!!! you can't do that" The strait passengers sat there stunned. The captain came out just in time to see me deliver the biggest toungue kiss ever to the queen sitting next to me. He ran back into the cockpit and called the Boston PD. When the plane landed, there were so many cops you would have thought they had just captued Osama Benladen!! They took us off the plane in cuffs, put us in room, and charged us with everything in the kitchen sink. S&M, B&D,B&E, L&L,LSMFT and everything else they could think of. I thought I was going to jail for life!!! Anyway, when things calmed down, if I remember right, weall got DAT's and were sent packing. Some volunteer gay lawyer in Boston took care of it for us. However, nobody was ever arrested again for kissing their partner at an airport. My hat goes off to us early fighters. We took no crap and took no prisoners.
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Post by bluepride on Jul 9, 2008 20:11:16 GMT -5
An update on this situation. I'm not sure who to believe at this point, but this is the latest I've found. I will say that Rite-Aid has been cited recently for selling expired products, including medicine. For what it's worth. Update: Rite Aid signs act of vandalism An email was sent to Rite Aid and received the following response: Let me assure you that were taking this matter very seriously. These signs absolutely do not represent the view of Rite Aid nor the associate identified. One of our core values is to be a place where all customers and associates are treated with respect and dignity, where they feel appreciated and welcome. We are conducting an investigation regarding this matter as our findings show that these signs were not posted by any current Rite Aid associates asindicated. As soon as the signs were noticed, they were immediately removed. We've notified the local authorities on this act of vandalism and are offering our full support and cooperation so that the individuals responsible for this act of intolerance can be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Corey Customer Support Update: Rite Aid signs act of vandalism
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Post by admin on Aug 19, 2008 17:51:50 GMT -5
This is a pretty important and serious thing to be aware of. There is a site out there that people can access and for a pretty low price, obtain personal information about you. I got the information from another law enforcement related site and I'm putting the information here for all of you. Below is a copy of a bulletin distributed at a South Florida Police Department regarding one of it's officers being the target of someone who accessed his personal info. I entered my own name and came up with results I did not like. I even entered the information of a friend of mine who died in 1990 and his information came up.
I would urge any and all of our members to contact intelius.com and have their information taken off of their site. The directions on how to do this are included in the copy of the bulletin from the Pembroke Pines Police Department.INTELIUS.COM
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2008 9:36:25 GMT -5
A couple of months ago, Stephen and I went to a dinner party with four other gay couples. One couple was new to our area and I was looking forward to meeting them. They seemed like nice guys, and we all had a great time. A few days later, the host of the party ran into the new couple and said,"It's great that Carroll and Stephen own a house right near you. You should reallly get to know them". The couple replied, "Not Carroll and Stephen, just Carroll. That house belongs to Carroll." These people had gone on to the computer after meeting us and looked into our financial history, and various other personal things regarding us. Can you imagine? I was outraged. Our personal affairs are none of their business and yet they went out of their way to investigate us. I really don't thnk that it's a good idea to have personal things listed on the computer that anyone can just look up. The computer is violating our privacy and that's dangerous. Having this information available to just anybody can spell abuse. It's time something was done about this.
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Post by maxwelldaemon on Aug 20, 2008 11:04:11 GMT -5
I believe most, if not all of the information found on these sites is actually culled from public documents from government offices. This info has always been open to public view, but it took a lot more digging to get to it until computers made our life so "easy." The price we all pay for progress...
Have you ever "googled" yourself???
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Post by bluepride on Aug 20, 2008 11:20:13 GMT -5
Yes, the information is usually obtained from public records, which is a hazard of this computer age. But if you have the opportunity to have your info redacted from a site, even only one site, it's that much less info out there. I wrote to intelius yesterday and told them to remove my information as well as the information of my immediate family. Hopefully it will be gone in the next couple of weeks. But there are still other sites where the information can be obtained. For me, it's not a situation where I just sit back, throw up my hands and say there's nothing I can do about it. If I have the power to have my info removed, I'm going to do it.
And I hope you confronted your "investigators" Carroll. What nerve, to correct your friends with the information that they found out about you.
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Post by bluepride on Sept 14, 2008 7:48:33 GMT -5
America's pro-homosexual giants: 2009 259 U.S. businesses recognized for benefiting 'lesbian, gays, bisexual, transgender' employees The HRC has come out with a list of companies that are considered "gay friendly" in terms of benefits, employment and other categories positive to gays and lesbians. The link below is the list, in alphabetical order, of companies scoring a perfect 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign's 2009 Corporate Equality Index, with policies beneficial toward homosexuals: America's pro-homosexual giants: 2009
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