The Chicago media treated the recent “Gay Games” as if it were a serious sporting and cultural event, but few spectators showed up to watch. Writing for Illinois Family Institute, I called the “Games” a flop. Now we learn that despite all the hype and corporate subsidies (and free publicity), the “Gay Games” was a financial flop, too. Click on the links in the story below for photos and local coverage of the event from June.–Peter LaBarbera

Excerpted from Gay Games Plans Final Event, by Joel Nosh, published Oct 12, 2006, in Chicago Tribune:

Paraphernalia sale intended to help eliminate shortfall

… With a $200,000 budget shortfall on an event organizers predicted would at least break even, everything must go.

By shedding these assets and soliciting donations, organizers who ran the Games on a $10 million cash budget say they will get back to zero or maybe even generate a slight surplus by the spring.

…[Kevin] Boyer said letters were sent to potential donors two weeks ago in an effort to raise $100,000. Another $100,000 has already been pledged in matching funds, he said. More money will come in from the sale of thousands of items large and small later this month.

For the last 12 years, the Gay Games, an international event staged every four years, has been financially troubled.

The 2002 Games in Sydney and 1998 Games in Amsterdam both finished more than $1 million in the red. The 1994 New York Games declared bankruptcy with a $350,000 shortfall, and the 1990 Vancouver Games ended $100,000 in the hole.

In each case, local governments, businesses or both absorbed the ultimate financial blow.

…Gay Games organizers have been chipping away at their debts, Boyer said, and getting creative when able. Equipment has been accepted in place of cash, and in some cases they have asked for bills to be lowered or forgiven.

Chicago Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said the Gay Games has given $17,000 of equipment, including softball equipment and fencing, to chip away at its balance. Gay Games, which still owes nearly $30,000, also has been sending in money on a payment plan, she said.

Continue reading in Chicago Tribune…

From our friends at American Family Association:

Wal-Mart has given its full endorsement to the homosexual agenda and homosexual marriage. Boise State University in Boise, Idaho, will observe LGBT Diversity Week October 9–13. One of the sponsors for the Diversity Week is Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is joining the Pleasure Boutique (an adult bookstore which bills itself as “Idaho’s largest selection of adult movies and DVDs and largest adult toy selection in Idaho”) and other groups in sponsoring the week. Diversity Week is a week of celebrating homosexuality and promoting the homosexual agenda and homosexual marriage.

Among the events being sponsored by Wal-Mart is Idaho Votes No Campaign Update and Information Workshop. Voters in Idaho will be voting on a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage in November. This Wal-Mart sponsored event will inform voters how to oppose the amendment and how to get others to do so. Wal-Mart is putting their money behind the effort to legalize homosexual marriage.

Other events being sponsored by Wal-Mart: Gay History of Idaho, Diversity in the Workplace, Women’s/Lesbian Issues, Hate Based Crimes, Heterosexism, Homosexuality and Disabilities, LGBT Youth in Trouble, MCC-Faith and LGBT, and a youth dance for those age 24 and under.

TAKE ACTION

1. E-mail Wal-Mart or call 1-800-WAL-MART.
2. Call or e-mail your local Wal-Mart manager with your concerns.
   
3. Print out and distribute AFA’s Pass Along Sheet.

It used to be American leftists and peaceniks who crusaded against Big Business. Now it’s moral-minded and largely Christian conservatives–who have watched one Fortune 500 company after another embrace pro-homosexual advocacy, dressed up as “diversity.”

While the pro-family movement focused on doing battle against the homosexual lobby in Washington, D.C., and state capitals, “gay” activists won over corporations, largely through internal activism within each company. Kodak, a leading national sponsor of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) went heavily into homosexual advocacy after a top female executive declared her lesbianism to fellow execs. Kodak is among the 138 companies that received a 100% score on the “Corporate Equality Index” (read: Pro-Homosexuality Index) of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s leading “gay” lobby group.

The battle to restore corporate neutrality on the homosexual issue will be a long and tough one, but it must be fought. People of faith inside companies can refuse to participate in pro-homosexual, one-sided “tolerance” sessions that undercut their moral beliefs. Or at least, they can request that the pro-family perspective on the issue be represented in the name of diversity. And they must work closely with outside family advocates to fight against corporate grants to homosexual groups like HRC that have a well-earned reputation for radicalism and bigotry–e.g., supporting taxpayer-funded transsexual “sex-change” operations and demonizing religious people and groups opposed to homosexuality.

You may get hassled or even punished along the way for standing for truth, but Christ said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20).  If you need some help sharing the Gospel with a homosexual co-worker, try reading this short, helpful paper by former lesbian Yvette Schneider, “How Christians Can Talk to Homosexuals.”

The pendulum is swinging toward a politically correct corporate embrace of immoral and unhealthy sexual behavior, dressed up as an “orientation.” It will swing back toward normalcy in the years ahead. –– Peter LaBarbera

The following is excerpted from New Report Shows Corporate America Competing to Be the Most GLBT-Friendly, published Sept 19, 2006, by the homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign:

The Human Rights Campaign today released a report showing that a record number of the largest U.S. companies are increasingly competing to expand benefits and protections for their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees and consumers. This year’s report, the Human Rights Campaign’s fifth annual Corporate Equality Index, showed an unprecedented 138 major U.S. companies earned the top rating of 100 percent.

Continue reading the HRC report…

From America’s pro-homosexual giants: 2006, published Sept 20, 2006, by WorldNet Daily:
Below is the list of companies scoring a perfect 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2006 Corporate Equality Index, with policies beneficial toward homosexuals:

Excerpted from List of GayFriendly Companies Continues to Grow, published Sept 21, 2006, by Agape Press:

The 2006 Corporate Equality Index’s 138-member list includes perennial representatives like IBM, Levi-Strauss, Nike, and even Ford Motor Company. It measures benefits and protections to “gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender” employees and customers, including promises against discrimination. The jump from a list of 101 last year to 138 this year is being called a reflection of several culture trends. (See related article on WorldNetDaily)

Peter LaBarbera is president of Americans for Truth, a group that monitors the homosexual agenda throughout American culture. He contends that the campaigns to portray homosexuals and transgenders as a minority — and to represent them as large contributors to corporate America’s bottom line — has been successful…

Continue reading at Agape Press…

Excerpted from Wal-Mart Partners With Gay and Lesbian Group, by Mya Frazier, published Aug 24, 2006, by American Family Association:

…Wal-Mart hired Witeck-Combs Communications, a marketing shop known for its work targeting the gay and lesbian consumer market, according to Bob Witeck, president of the Washington-based firm…

Founded in 1993, the eight-person agency’s client list boasts automotive brands Volvo, Land Rover, and Jaguar, in addition to American Airlines, Citigroup and at least a dozen nonprofits, such as the American Association of People with Disabilities.

Witeck-Combs, a member of the NGLCC, is also a participant in the organization’s supplier-diversity initiative, or SDI, a certification program launched this year and modeled after minority- and women-supplier development programs. Corporate participants already include IBM, American Airlines, Motorola and American Express.

…As part of the Wal-Mart Stores partnership with the NGLCC, Dee Breazeale, VP-divisional merchandising, Sam’s Club Jewelry, has joined the organization’s Corporate Advisory Council and Wal-Mart will sponsor two of the organization’s annual conferences.

Mr. Nelson said Wal-Mart approached the organization four months ago, expressing interest in the supplier-diversity initiative. “The expectation is that Wal-Mart will encourage their core suppliers — the P&G’s, the Johnson & Johnson’s and the Gillette’s — to also diversify their revenue streams to include LGTB businesses,” Mr. Nelson said.

He said the retailer is “working right now on providing domestic-partnership benefits” and that Wal-Mart may soon join the 261 members of the Fortune 500 that offer the benefits.

The steps being taken by Wal-Mart are the strongest signal yet that the company may be taking a permanent stand on the side of gay rights…

Continue reading at AFA…

From ‘Fair and balanced’ network gives $10K to ‘gays’, published September 9, 2006, by WorldNet Daily:

Fox News Channel, which owes its No. 1 cable news rating to its immense popularity with conservatives, is donating $10,000 to an organization of homosexual journalists.

Fox News tells viewers “We Report. You Decide.” But it has made the donation to “connect with” the estimated 650 journalists who are attending a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association event at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel this weekend.

The company has joined with the Miami Herald, McClatchy Co., CBS, CNN, Hearst Corp., US Newswire, ESPN, Bloomberg, ABC News, The Los Angeles Times, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Washington Post and Tribune Co. in sponsoring the event for the organization that claims 1,300 members nationwide.

“By sponsoring the ‘Out in the Sunshine,’ you gain a direct link to top media professionals from across the country and around the globe. The various levels of sponsorship allow you increased visibility, and access to influential members of the mainstream and LGBT media,” said the convention website.

A message left with Fox News seeking comment was not returned immediately, but an activist group had a contribution ready for the debate.

Americans for Truth essentially asked Fox News to live up to its own words, or eat them.

Peter LaBarbera

In a letter e-mailed yesterday from AFT chief Peter LaBarbera to Fox News Channel President Roger Ailes, LaBarbera said the network’s “fair and balanced” reputation is on the line.

From FOX News Channel Caught Donating $10,000 to Gay Journalist Organization, by John-Henry Westen, published Sept 8, 2006, by LifeSite News:

While the left likes to pretend that Fox News Channel is a right-wing conservative news organization, Fox has always claimed it is “fair and balanced”, trying to portray the image of center of the road. However, their “fair and balanced” claim will be under close scrutiny by conservatives this week as a pro-family group has asked Fox News to match a $10,000 donation to a homosexual journalism organization, with a donation to pro-family group.

Fox News is listed as a “Feature Level” sponsor of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) annual convention which began yesterday and runs through the weekend in Miami. See the NGLA sponsorship page featuring Fox News as a sponsor: http://www.nlgja.org/convention/2006/sponsors.htm

The controversy is of heightened intensity since the leader of the NLGJA recently compared pro-family critics of homosexuality to “white supremacists.”

Americans for Truth (AFT) is asking Fox News Channel to be “fair and balanced” by giving $10,000 to a conservative group to match its donation to NLGJA. In a letter sent today to Fox News Channel President Roger Ailes, AFT President Peter LaBarbera wrote: “FOX News cannot claim to be ‘fair and balanced’ in its coverage of homosexuality while providing large grants to a special interest group like the [NLGJA] that demonizes religious conservatives and, worse, seeks to influence the media nationwide to exclude conservative critics of the homosexual political/cultural agenda from gay-related stories.”