McDonald's Operations Chief Basically Tells U.S. Gays to Go to Hell

I never cease to be amazed at the willingness of self-righteous "Christian" to attempt to inflict their religious beliefs on all - even in the business world where one ought to be courting every segment of consumers. Not so McDonald's operations chief, Don Thompson (pictured at left), who finds gays offense to his religious beliefs and has flatly rejected any U.S. advertising that might suggest that LGBT Americans are as welcome in McDonald's locations as say - blacks. Nope, that would offend Thompson as a Christian, so even though the gay accepting McDonald's ad running in France has done well - indeed, it probably made a positive impression on many LGBT consumers - Thompson has made it clear in an interview with the Chicago Tribune that no such ad will be seen in the USA. My response? I'm not big on fast food, but to the extent I will be buying any on car trips, etc., there are plenty of options besides McDonald's which will not be seeing a penny of my money. Here are highlights from the Tribune interview:
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Tribune: A French TV ad featuring a gay teen and his father has stirred some controversy — not there, but here. Can you talk about that?
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Thompson: It is an example that markets, cultures are very different around the world. (For instance), I've never shied away from the fact that I'm a Christian. I have my own personal beliefs and I don't impose those on anybody else. I've been in countries where the majority of the people in the country don't believe in a deity or they may be atheist. Or the majority of the country is Muslim. Or it may be the majority is much younger skewed. So when you look at all these differences, it's not that I'm to be the judge or the jury relative to right or wrong. Having said that, at McDonald's, there are core values we stand for and the world is getting much closer. So we have a lot of conversations. We're going to make some mistakes at times. (We talk) about things that may have an implication in one part of the world and may be the cultural norm in another part of the world. And those are things that, yes, we're going to learn from. But, you're right, that commercial won't show in the United States.
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Mr. Thompson, short of a public apology from you, you won't see me darken the door of any McDonald's location - EVER again. Sir, you are a bigot.

AFA Announces Boycott of McDonalds

It would seem that Don Wildmon and the American Family Association - why is it I sense that the "F" in AFA would seem more appropriate if it stood for "fanatics" - must be in dire need of a reason for the news media to mention him/the organization. Hence the new boycott announcement, this time aimed at McDonalds. Like past boycotts that have failed utterly - even though the AFA always in its special delusional way claims victory - this one no doubt will cause barely a ripple for McDonalds. In fact, it might prompt me and others who normally avoid McDonalds to stop by once in a while. Meanwhile, Wildmon has provided plenty of fodder for articles rightfully trashing his organization. A great example is Chris Kelly's hilarious column at the Huffington Post. Make sure you go to the article and read the comments posted by freepers. Here are some highlights:

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There's at least one good reason to like McDonald's: They're being boycotted by the American Family Association. What did McDonald's do to cross the AFA, its president, Donald Wildmon, and -- by extension -- Jesus (R-Nz.)? They donated $20,000 to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. McDonald's' revenue runs about five billion dollars a quarter, so you can see their profound commitment to destroying the family through sodomy.

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The AFA says that by donating one thousandth of one percent of its 2007 earnings, "McDonald's has chosen not to remain neutral but to give the full weight of their corporation to promoting the homosexual agenda."

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It feels a little like the American Family Association was looking for someone to boycott and it was just McDonald's' turn. They've already boycotted Sears, Kohl's, Kmart, Target, Old Navy and IKEA. As a result, they're naked and don't have anywhere to sit. The McDonald's boycott follows boycotts of Burger King, Carl's Jr., 7-11, Proctor & Gamble and Kraft, which means Donald Wildmon hasn't eaten anything for sale in America since the late '70s. You'd think he'd be dead, but no.

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But McDonald's might want to think about the kind of customers they're losing. They appear to be lunatics. . . . I just had a thought -- honest to God, I swear this wasn't where I was heading with this thing; I was just going to make a lot of snotty remarks about reductio ad absurdum and the McFaddin Family's feet -- but it occurs to me that McDonald's has done something brilliant: They've deliberately offended a demographic they don't want.

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For just $20,000, they've chased off all the crazy people who hang around McDonald's sputtering and ranting and making me not want to eat there.