Group scolds Walgreens for being a Gay Games sponsor

[kweerwolf]

A conservative Illinois Christian group is once again chastising a corporation for sponsoring the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago.

The Illinois Family Institute in Glen Ellyn is squaring off against Walgreen Co. for its $100,000 contribution to Olympic-style games to be held in July. Walgreens joins PlanetOut Inc., which runs an online network for the gay community and the national gay television network Q Television, as a Platinum-level sponsor of the event.

The Illinois Family Institute recently attacked Harris Bank and Kraft Foods for each contributing $25,000 to the Gay Games VII.

"The Gay Games are about homosexuality, and I think it's wrong for Walgreens to sponsor it," said Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute. "They've taken the step of becoming an official sponsor, which is putting the Walgreens name to endorsing this event."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northwest/chi-...

[aquart]

1. Walgreens has opened near me. I must go there more often.

[nickinSTL]

2. good for Walgreens

n/t

[marbuc]

3. "The Gay Games are about homosexuality"

Funny, I thought the Gay Games were about competition. I don't know much about the Games, is slap and tickle an event? How about recruitment of school children and unwilling fundies? "Hate the sin not the sinner" my arse.

[sui generis]

6. well, triathlon, judo, kick boxing, fencing

track, swimming, etc.

Sounds pretty gay to me. Whadda bunch of macaroons. They're actually HUGE dollar events for whatever city hosts them, and if queer money is talking then "Family Values" (code for "Hate Fags Values" and nothing else) bullshit is walking.

[Ian David]

12. You know what's gay? Bobsledding...

A bunch of guys in skintight suits nestled into one another's crotches, going for a ride together.

Even the name, "BOBsledding," implies homosexual conduct.

Just what are they going to be "bobbing" for, anyway?

Is that why the Luge event isn't called "Kneel" sledding? Because it would be "too obvious" if they had both "Kneel and Bob" Sledding?

I don't see why they want to ban The Gay Games, but they're perfectly happy to allow the regular Olympics to continue having bobsledding.

Next, they're going to complain that The Special Olympics encourages people to become retarded, and that The Maccabiah Games is about denying Christ.

When are they going to realize that bobsledders want to recruit their children, because children take up less room in the sled?

[sui generis]

4. yes, and there are some director-level execs at Walgreens

who are "family"

What a bunch of dunces - I guess they think we're still in the closet.

This is kind of like the fox coming to the henhouse and telling the rooster that he disapproves of his support of hens.

Family values, my big white freshly shaved muscular ass!

[LizMoonstar]

5. good thing they don't know about

my (nominally) Christian college having a group hosting "The Homolympics"!



yes, it's a joke, put on by our gay/straight alliance club. should be pretty fun.





we recently had a rally against hate, because of some nasty (but fortunately small) incidents on campus, and i think this is meant to be the 'fun' followup to the (very successful - made it onto the news, and front page of one of the papers) more serious event.




anyway, walgreens is a good employer, just don't have an affair with a supervisee. yes, a friend of mine did that. his worker came on to him big time, and they sucked face in the stockroom. no, there was no harassment. yes, he was disciplined. on top of that, she was his best friend's girlfriend. yes, he's an idiot.

comedy gold. sorry for the o/t, but it was too fun not to share.

[madrchsod]

7. check this out from their front page today

http://www.illinoisfamily.org/news/contentview.asp?c=27...
Illinois Family Institute
these guys are just as crazy as ole` fred.

[kevinbgoode]

8. I'd be surprised if they had a membership

that extended beyond some looney tune televangelist mailing list. . .

They've never been able to attract many people to their "pro-marriage" rallies around the state. Frankly, I'm surprised they are even capable of getting any press attention, given LaBarbera's history of wacko-ness.

[kweerwolf]

9. Got a real kick out of this quote ...

Fred makes an easy target for the media and secularists who are tempted (partly by their own prejudices) to paint any opposition to "gay rights" as hateful. For this reason, I have sometimes wondered if Phelps and his lawyerly clan are "gay plants."

So the right wing is trying to distance themselves from Fred by suggesting his working for the other team?
LOL ... LOL ... LOL ... ROFLMAO!!!!!!

[sui generis]

10. oh it's a lot worse than that:

You see, there really isn't even such a thing as gays. Can you imagine? Two guys together acting like mad leather queens at a kielbasa gobbling contest? (I withdrew my other example for the sake of google cache and so I wouldn't accidentally arouse any lurking freeps who believe that two women would rather pleasure each other than a nasty tempered beer bellied confederate flag waving holier than thou wife beating inarticulate livin'-at-home-with-Mom cretin with a gummed up keyboard while complaining about the welfare queens and freeloaders)

No, it's ALL a liberal plot, designed to embarrass and divide godly republican conservatives.

There is no such thing as a butt diddler, Virginia. Honest Abe.

:evilqueen:

[bluedawg12]

16. It's more than sex- they went nuts when gays wanted affirmation

of their love and long term relationships.

They liked it just fine when gays were relegated to back alley clubs, parks, and the closet.

In fact, it is estimated that about half of the good town fathers part took of this illicitly. Just another outlet for daddy.

They maintain sexual behavior can be controlled.

I maintain that emotional attractions--and love-- are private, personal and intrinsic.

That's why they went nuts--ape shit- when the thought occurred to the RW pseudo-moralists that gays were trying to stand up for their emotional lives and commitments.

[davidinalameda]

13. no one is crazy as Fred

but they do come close

[Ian David]

11. Does that mean NASCAR is about Heterosexuality?

If Walgreens sponsors NASCAR or The Redneck Games, won't that ballance it out?



http://www.rednektv.com/rednekgames/redneck_games_2005/...

[Obamarama]

14. These pathetic yahoos boycotted Kraft earlier this year for the same thing

I'm sure there millions upon millions upon millions of kitchen cupboards across America stocked with Kraft Mac & Cheese. They think they have a voice? Sad, little people.

[bluedawg12]

15. The IFI is a far-right group which opposes equal access to employment

http://gayliberation.org/photos/2005_0610-ifi.html
Gay Liberation Network
Protest against the Illinois "Family" Institute on June 10, 2005

>>On June 10th, supporters of equal rights for gay people gathered at a Gay Liberation Network initiated protest against a $100-a-plate yacht fundraiser for the Illinois Family Institute (IFI). The IFI is a far-right group which opposes equal access to employment, housing and public accommodations for gay people, and which on a national level has paired with other stridently anti-gay organizations like the American Family Association, headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.
"There is a simple, explicit word for those who oppose the equal rights of others--bigots," said Gay Liberation Network co-founder Andy Thayer. "Opposing equal legal rights for whole groups of people is bigotry, no matter how much they try to lard up their language with rhetoric about 'Christian love' and so-called 'family values.'" <<


Who funds these bigots?


More from IFI: ( know thy enemy)
http://www.illinoisfamily.org /

[terrya]

17. More business from me for Walgreens, then.

I'm proud that the city of Chicago and various corporate sponsors, including Walgreens, are behind the Gay Games (which SHOULD have been called the Gay Olympics, but the United States Supreme Court, in one of their insane moments, thought otherwise. But that's another rant)

[Siyahamba]

18. One good thing about these nutcase groups.

They let me know which businesses to thank and frequent.