Two different billboard advertising companies in Utah have rejected applications to display pro-gay messages on billboards in the Salt Lake City area, citing the phrase “God Loves Gays” as “controversial,” and “advancing sensitive political interests,” and therefore against their policies.
In statements to BuzzFeed, both companies have also conveniently forgot to mention that they rent space to companies and politicians who vocally oppose LGBT rights, something that could easily be interpreted by some as controversial and designed to advance sensitive political interests.
The rejection statements come in response to the anonymous activist “God’s” campaign to erect “God Loves Gays” billboards in key American cities to combat anti-gay information distributed by the Westboro Baptist Church and, in this case, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Since August, God has raised nearly $100,000 on Indiegogo to fund the billboard campaign; he erected the first in Westboro’s hometown of Topeka earlier this month.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Thank you, @TheGoodGodAbove & all His supporters for generously providing this new billboard to the @cityoftopeka pic.twitter.com/g5BrHX9VYB
— Planting Peace (@Planting_Peace) September 8, 2014
His next intended stop was Utah, to antagonize the Mormons, of course.
But two Utah-based billboard advertising companies are not interested in spreading the message, as they feel it’s “controversial” and advancing the gay agenda.
Speaking with BuzzFeed Friday, Dewey Reagan of Reagan Outdoor Advertising said:
“…rejecting the ads does not reflect the company’s or any of its employees’ position on the topic. It was a business decision based on structural realities of our business. We don’t actually own the majority of the land underneath the signs where our billboards are located. They are there pursuant to land lease agreements and some of those specifically prohibit display of ad copy that is controversial.”
Well that’s funny, since Reagan National Advertising doesn’t seem to think there’s anything possibly controversial about running ads for Rush Limbaugh and Chick-fil-A. Surely those parties would be considered “controversial” by some, and most definitely offensive to many.
YESCO, the second billboard advertising company to reject the God Loves Gays billboard based on its pro-gay content, offered the following statement to BuzzFeed:
“As a privately owned company, YESCO carefully evaluates all requests for advertising placement. We avoid accepting advertisements that are interpreted as advancing sensitive religious, social, or political interests.”
Advancing sensitive political interests? That’s exactly what Salt Lake City Republican mayoral candidate Mark Crockett was doing when YESCO rented space to him back in 2012. What gives?
God tells BuzzFeed that “the LORD shall not be denied,” adding:
“I understand that [the companies] fear using the words God, loves, and gays in the same sentence. Why am I not allowed to have free speech? Huh? Isn’t this America? Oh, I’m sorry, I thought this was America.”
“It’s extremely important for young LGBT people to know that God loves them just the way they are,” they said. “So many young gay teens struggle with persecution and consider suicide as the only way out. I have talked to countless LGBT teens in this situation via private messages on Facebook. This message can actually save lives. This is also why I’ve pledged to donate $30,000 to the Trevor Project, The Equality House, and the National Alliance to End Homelessness.”
This is not over.
Desert Boy
It’s Utah. What do you expect?
AtticusBennett
Dear Utah, how’s your suicide rate for men between 15 and 30 doing? Still unreasonably high? thought so.
Tracy Pope
@AtticusBennett: Like most religious cult enclaves, the official stance of the LDS in Utah (and everywhere else) doesn’t care one whit about gay teen suicide. The loathsome things done in the name of God…
Bauhaus
And look at the Mormons sanctimonious and hypocritical definition of marriage defined as, one man and one woman (+ one woman+one woman+one woman+one woman = a harem).
The first forty years of Mormonism involved plural marriage, a form of harem-keeping by men who were taught by Joseph Smith that it was a doctrine worth following. Smith then proceeded to marry half a dozen women in 1843, yet he denied to the public that he practiced this polygamy. He had at least forty wives in his lifetime, some of whom were thirteen years old, and Brigham Young had fifty wives. Now, the modern view is that polygamy is unacceptable, which seems to be a revelation brought about by the illegality of polygamy. The Mormon god has changed his mind, it seems!
Philamike
Hell, they still believe in polygamy in the afterlife.
These billboard companies want to make me vomit.
skyler
Every queer needs to get their ass and every ass within reach to the polls in November and vote or this sort of crap – and worse – will run rampant. There is a tide turning in our favor but all it takes is more right-wing nuts in public office and watch the advances in equality take 10 steps back for every one taken forward.
yaletownman
So I wonder what they would do if a company that is well known for it’s pro-stance on LGBT issues wanted to advertise on the billboards? I wonder what they would say if a company wanted to do a billboard that featured a same sex couple advertising a product or service? Like two men with their kids eating at another fast food restaurant? There are other ways of getting a pro-equality message up there that would make it difficult for them to use these “policies” against it.
Maude
In all good conscience, I cannot agree.
If it was just this issue, or any Gay issue for that matter, I would run to the the voting place, and cast my vote against whomever is against the advancement of the Gay Agenda.
But I am not a single issue voter, and my country is in deep trouble in every corner of the world, and in every State of the Union.
Obama has lied to not only the Gay population, he has lied to the entire country about every issue he promised.
I don’t give a damn about the lies to the GOP, he has lied about every Left wing cause that he promised to fix.
Maude
And if he is Gay as some insist, then let him come out of the closet and not only be our first Black President, but also our first Gay President.
I don’t believe a word he says anymore.
loren_1955
Good folks, you must realize that really in every sense of the word, Utah is a theocracy. When the city of Salt Lake City approved gay anti-discrimination code within the city, a church representative was at the meeting telling the council that the church approved the measure. Most Mormons are so spineless and so devoid of self-thinking that THE Church determines much of what happens in the state. The billboard companies acted from probably two ways, 1) they are LDS and sincerely believe their actions are justified based on church teaching, or 2) they fear the repercussions by the church dominated state. Been there, done that, so glad not to live there any longer.
Merv
The main problem is that the message on billboard is false. God doesn’t love gays. He wants us dead. Fortunately, God isn’t real. He exists only as a fictional character in books of mythology.
Ann Mason
The First Amendment is respected as long as the view expressed is one you agree with.
That rule applies in a lot of places. The only thing which ceases to amaze me is how far some people will go in defending that circular reasoning. They aren’t thinking. They’re acting on either politics or their own impulses.
As a child, I remember calling B.S. on some adults for hypocrisy. They told me I’d understand when I was older. That’s the first clue that someone has taken an indefensible position. They can’t justify their actions, so they sling personal insults at anyone who challenges them.
If the people who want to post God Loves Gays billboards in Utah continue with their efforts, they’ll hear the personal insults soon. That will be the only option left after the “community standards” argument wears out.
wpewen
I’ve said it before on Facebook and elsewhere-why the fuck do we have to be involved with any church approval, for or against? I’m not atheist or agnostic and I appreciate the concern, but..
As far as Mormons go they are like some Baptists, etc ARE in hell and want to drag anybody they can into it. They are NOT nice people, and people who are attracted to them often get messed up. Mormons only care about money, unlike Catholics whose true mission is to help the poor (and I’m not Catholic). Some religions do some good work, some do not.
Churches like the Mormons drive young gay people to suicide and it would be good if the legal system were designed to prosecute it. Take ALL the Mormon church’s money and give it to the poor. They give nothing to the world.
Alan down in Florida
@Maude: Too late – James Buchanan if not Abraham Lincoln has already claimed that title. Check your history books.
Dakotahgeo
This… is not a problem. Get a Court order to cease and desist and order any anti-GLBT PSAs removed, AND get a phalanx of lawyers and sue the shit out of the faux jesus lovers! No problem.
Dakotahgeo
@Maude: And I’m sure the Obama supporters would give a shit what you think. Troll!
Billy Budd
if I were a billionaire, I would spend a few millions running a simple Ad, with a scene of a beautiful gay couple french-kissing, during 30 seconds, every day and every season of the super bowl. People need to be CONDITIONED into accepting different stuff, just like you do with your dog.
transiteer
Boycott. Boycott. Boycott. One person at a time, boycott those who are rewarded for their hate and ignorance. Boycott. Boycott. Boycott. And next election, vote for some real people instead of the idiots elected now.
Billy Budd
@transiteer: That is silly. You can’t boycott someone who does not have any kind of relationship with you.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
These hate filled abhorrent twisted bigoted pigs simply love to cherry pick obscure passages from the Bible penned by Leviticus, the original self hating Gay man to justify their hatred………..
Yet if you ask them the following:
> If you have a teenage child and they have ever talked back to you why haven’t you killed them?
> Was your wife a virgin on your wedding night? If not why haven’t you killed her?
> If dear old Mom ever “adorned herself with gold and baubles” why too haven’t you killed her?
Each and every one is demanded of believers in the exact same Bible as these pigs are quoting to justify their hatred and bigotry against Gays…
DarkZephyr
@Maude: Troll alert! Your use of the ABSURD phrase “Gay Agenda” gives you away! “run right out and vote against anyone who is against the advancement of the Gay Agenda” my backside.
DarkZephyr
@Maude: And btw, the above article has nothing to do with Obama or voting polls.
Maude
@Alan down in Florida: @Maude:
Sorry for the confusion…….I was responding to Skyler.
Maude
@DarkZephyr:
I was responding to Skyler.
Title? What title?
Maude
@Maude:
DarkZephyr……If you don’t like “Gay Agenda”, how about “My Agenda” to advance the cause of respect and equality for all Gay Men and Women everywhere?
I guess nitpicking and criticizing our own can be useful in a convoluted sort of way, ‘to each his own’.
Maude
@DarkZephyr:
I’m repeating myself, I know, but each time I post, it seems to ‘land’ at a place I never intended……………..
I WAS RESPONDING TO SKYLER’S POST SUGGESTING WE NEVER VOTE FOR A GOP CANDIDATE.
GENERALLY, I WOULD AGREE, AND I THINK I MADE THAT CLEAR WHEN I POINTED OUT MY SPECIFICS.
NJjoe
This is your brain on Utah. Any questions?
jaack
Does censoring this ‘controversial” ad imply that God made a mistake when He made me? I know He LOVES me always. I am perfectly sure of that undisputable fact. Saying God loves all people has never been controversial. It is dogma, a foundation of my faith. Keeping this ad from running is ANTI-CHRISTIAN and a direct insult to me and ANY Christian.
Who invented this term “gay agenda”? Only “agenda” I have is to follow my faith in my daily life and my agenda is the words of Christ Himself. “Love one another”. The simplest message there is and is TIMELESS. I don’t think it is Utah’s fault but the billboard’s owners who don’t understand the true message.
Dakotahgeo
@jaack: You are spot on the mark! However, ignorance and bigotry is on the shoulders of Utah because these whackamoles are living in a technological, internet age and should know better. Ignorance and arrogance seem to be their individual lives byproducts. Utah isn’t innocent in this respect either.
BJ McFrisky
Ask yourselves:
Would Queerty be “tolerant” enough to runs ads for Limbaugh, GOP, or Chick-fil-A?
Hypocrisy exposed.
Good day.
Dakotahgeo
@BJ McFrisky: Every blog must have an idiot! Thank you for volunteering!
jaack
Those who eat bacon, pork chops, and ribs are an abomination TOO. The hypocrisy in food – laws of Kosher, clothing, keeping the Sabbath is unbelievable.
BJ McFrisky
@Dakotahgeo: When one cannot refute the argument with facts, one has no choice but to resort to name-calling. Thanks for proving that point.
Dakotahgeo
@BJ McFrisky: Your answer seems to be one of the weakest arrows in the quiver of the conservative right wing fools. If it works, I’ll use it and follow your lead. Thank YOU!
BJ McFrisky
@Dakotahgeo: Don’t mention it, glad to help.
Mack
It’s interesting that they refused, they must be a Mormon company. Here in Nevada the same company builds signs for the Whore houses that are legal in some of the counties. But I guess that is so the Mormons instead of having multiple wives can still have other women.
Jerry12
I was in the Shopping Center business for 15 years, and one day, we received a letter from Chick-Fil-A saying that they would like to have a store in our Mall in Atlanta. The President of our company said that he did not know who they were and asked me to check them out. I found that they were a Fast Food operation in Atlanta and wanted to get into Malls. So, I was told to prepare, and send them a proposed Lease; which I did. A week or so later,the documents came back to us with all copies signed.
What most people do not know is that a Xerox copy machine enlarges the copy by one percent to prevent the left edge of the copies having a black edge. Therefor, if a change is made on one of the pages, and then copies it to send back to us, the copy will be slightly wider than the original. So, when the leases came back to us, the President of the company asked his Secretary to compare our copy of the Lease with pages that had financial information; which she did. She reported that there was a financial change. She was told to send the copy back to Chic-Fil-A with the change circled in red, and without a cover letter. We never heard from them again.