Autoblog

The American Family Association began a boycott against Ford back in March 2006 (not its first one, mind you). The boycott stemmed from Ford's refusing to cave in to the AFA's demands, which included not only pulling its advertising from gay-centric media outlets, but also ending the practice of offering domestic-partner benefits to same-sex couples. Ford has done neither, and the boycott's been in effect for the last 19 months.

While it may be true that sales have been down at Ford during 17 of the last 19 months, including a big drop of 21% last month, we find the AFA taking credit, any credit really, for the slump to be absolutely insane. The AFA states on its website, "When the boycott began, "Ford was approximately in the same financial condition as that of General Motors and Chrysler. But because of the boycott, Ford is now in much more of a serious financial situation than GM and Chrysler." A huge reduction in fleet sales, increased competition, higher gas prices, a weak subprime lending market... all of these things are apparently inconsequential in the eyes of the AFA. Or perhaps it's that this organization believes withholding its collective purchasing power is just as harmful to Ford as legacy health care costs and the like.

The arrogance in the AFA's statements is truly shocking, and we should mention to Ford that it's probably doing the right thing by ignoring the organization. The gay community represents a huge block of purchasing power, as is evident by the success of such sites as gaywheels.com, which compiles a list of automakers that are gay friendly, as well as ones that don't make the cut.

[Source: American Family Association]