Antigay
conservative group puts Ford boycott on hold

The conservative Christian group American Family Association has temporarily suspended its boycott of Ford Motor Co. over what the group alleges is Ford's support of gay issues. The Tupelo, Miss.-based AFA first announced its action against Ford and related brands on May 31. The group said the second-largest U.S. automaker has given thousands of dollars to gay rights groups, offers benefits to same-sex partners of company employees, and actively recruits gay employees. After recently meeting with a group of independant Ford dealers, however, the AFA suspended its boycott until at least December 1. At the meeting the dealers requested time to see if the concerns raised by the AFA could be addressed by the dealers and Ford Motor Company officials. "We believe the dealers were making a good faith effort and agreed to accept their request," AFA chairman Donald Wildmon said in a statement Monday. "Therefore, we accepted the suspension request and will work with the dealers in attempting to resolve our differences. We urge those supporting the boycott to disregard the boycott until December 1, 2005. On or about that date, we will notify our supporters as to the status of the boycott." Ford had responded to the boycott call by saying it respects its customers and employees regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or other characteristics. General Motors and Chrysler also provide benefits for same-sex partners of company employees. The AFA said it e-mailed the May 31 announcement about the Ford boycott to more than 2 million of its supporters. Ford was the only automaker among the 56 companies that received the highest rating last year from the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group. Companies are rated on several factors, including whether they offer benefits to employees' same-sex partners, donate to gay rights groups, and market their products to gays. The AFA recently ended a nine-year boycott of the Walt Disney Co. over Disney's decision to extend domestic-partner benefits and promote gay-related events at its theme parks. The boycott appeared to have little effect, since Disney reported higher earnings and increased theme park attendance during that time. (AP)