Not even Matthew Mitcham could save his friend Stephanie Rice, the Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medalist, after she tweeted “Suck on that faggots” after the Aussie rugby team the the Wallabies beat South Africa’s Springboks on Saturday: She lost her Jaguar sponsorship deal, and her sponsorship gigs with Davenport, SunRice and Channel 7 are now in jeopardy. Then there’s Tim Ravndal, who was removed from his post as president of the Big Sky Tea Party Association after posting a comment on Facebook that called for the hanging of gays (with a nod to Wyoming, a la Matthew Shepard). Stupids.
uu
Jeez … nowadays you can’t even call for the systematic extermination of one in ten people anymore without getting looks. Is this the America I grew up in? The Constitution is ob-vi-ous-ly pro-systematic-murder-of-anti-Christian-sinners … What else did you think the 10th amendment was for, you Nazi?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Dennis Scranton: “I think fruits are decorative. Hang up where they can be seen and appreciated. Call Wyoming for display instructions.”
Tim Ravndal: “@Kieth, OOPS I forgot this aint America no more! @Dennis, Where can I get that Wyoming printed instruction manual?”
Dennis Scranton: “Should be able to get info Gazette archives. Maybe even an illustration. Go back a bit over ten years.”
Two of the most vile, disgusting, reprehensive, scumbags who are nothing but rancid stains on humanity………
[img]http://www.stophate.us/shepard/images/mattcollage.jpg[/img]
Cam
Thats the way to do it. ASking people to love us and be nice to us doesn’t work. Target, a gay friendly corp. still donated money that ended up in an anti-gay pols hands. However, when people protested, and several gigantic mutual funds told Target they were going to dump their stock, changes started happening.
People stopped discrininating against Irish when the Irish started becoming cops.
If being anti-gay costs them votes or cash, they’re gonna shut up.
Luxury
Now if we could only give our dumb meat head jocks in America the same treatment…
alan brickman
Women have been saying nasty things about men and gays for years…..let’s hope this is a tipping point….
Molly
I like how that vile human being claims that he wasn’t referencing the death of Matt Shepard. Of course he was. It occurred in Wyoming and happened a little over ten years ago. He’s so full of hatred and bullshit that it makes my head spin.
L.
I’m actually surprised that someone from the Tea Party making homophobic remarks gets the boot, and not a promotion. Are these idiots getting soft?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Little trolL………
L.
I love you, let’s elope.
demonyc
wouldn’t ANY bad language terminate such a contract with bmw? i’m sure there are many other ways offensive speech could put her in hot water. i have to say i’m glad homophobia wasn’t swept under the carpet, it would have given me the sense they pick and choose what they feel is offensive, but this killed it for her, joshing or no, and it tells me they are following the contract that i’m assuming includes clauses about abusive language.
B
No. 3 · Cam wrote, “Target, a gay friendly corp. still donated money that ended up in an anti-gay pols hands. However, when people protested, and several gigantic mutual funds told Target they were going to dump their stock, changes started happening.”
What actually seems to have happened is that Target donated money to a group called MN Forward, which ostensibly supports pro-business politicians but ended up running ads to support a homophobic one. According to one gay site http://www.towleroad.com/2010/08/target-apologizes-for-donation-to-antigay-pac-mn-forward.html Target’s CEO Gregg Steinhafel eventually said, “While I firmly believe that a business climate conducive to growth is critical to our future, I realize our decision affected many of you in a way I did not anticipate, and for that I am genuinely sorry. The diversity of our team is an important aspect of our unique culture and our success as a company, and we did not mean to disappoint you, our team or our valued guests.”
It seems to be more of a case of Target failing to review donations adequately. The apology was damage control for what was most likely an innocent mistake. It’s too bad, but the CEO can’t do everything and has to delegate decision making. Sometimes, someone screws up, if only by blindly following a policy and not thinking it through, sometimes due to time-pressure or from simply not feeling well that day. But keep in mind that people who implement policies are usually lower down in the hierarchy than those who create the policies, and are lower down due to either lack of experience or lack of ability.
I wouldn’t dump on Target (as opposed to pointing out the error to Target, which some of their employees did) for a one-time mistake if it was in fact accidental – wait until there is a discernible pattern for that.
Queer Supremacist
@L.: Perhaps they’re realizing that since the press is going to be all over them no matter what they do it’s best to diffuse this bomb before it goes off. It’s damage control.
Stenar
@B: The Target CEO, Gregg Steinhafel, is a fundamentalist Christian who is opposed to homosexuality, abortion and even birth control. This wasn’t just a mistake of not knowing where they were donating their money.
After the Dayton family ceased ownership of Target in 2000 and Steinhafel came on board, the Target Foundation stopped its annual donations to Planned Parenthood in 2001, which had been ongoing since the 1970s.
Target recently instituted a “conscience clause” that says pharmacists in their stores can refuse to fill contraceptive prescriptions without penalty.
Steinhafel’s daughter attended the zealously anti-gay Family Fellowship Institute.
So, yes I WOULD dump on Target for this donation and the other items stated above.
http://www.theawl.com/2010/08/real-america-the-ceo-of-target-and-the-anti-gay-christian-right
IonMusic
To Stephanie Rice and those who freely use the word ‘fag’: The word “faggot” derives from gay folks being killed in the most inhumane, barbaric, VILE manners not to long ago. Gay people killed in vain for being themselves…and THAT word embodies that history.
Next time you hear it or use it, think of being an identifiable gay individual in the 1940s, or a gay individual in Iran today, and if you have any ethics…you’ll think twice about using a word full of hate.
People should never be rewarded for ignorance, especially those in the public eye.