http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70344
McDonald's hears: 'I'm NOT lovin' it!'
In front of local restaurants, fed-up Christians protest company's
sup****t of same-*** marriage
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Posted: July 22, 2008
10:31 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
2008 WorldNetDaily
The cor****ate headquarters for McDonald's is hearing from store managers
in
California that customers are upset over the company's pro-homo***ual
advocacy
and they aren't going to take it any longer.
Yuriy Popko, one of several Christians who staged a sign-waving protest at
the
Golden Arches in Citrus Heights today, said the protest at that location
was
suspended when store officials agreed to convey protesters' objections to
the
cor****ate office.
Protesters object to McDonald's homo***ual advocacy at a local McDonald's
franchise July 22, 2008, in Citrus Heights, Calif.
"They came out and talked with us. Basically we had two requests: a notice
to
the public and that they e-mail our concerns to the cor****ate office,"
Popko
told WND.
He said McDonald's officials confirmed they already had notified both
regional
and international headquarters about the concerns. But the company has a
prohibition on local posted notices, so Popko said the Christians agreed
to
write a letter that McDonald's would forward also.
"Tomorrow we're going to be at a different location," he said.
WND re****t earlier on the call for the boycott by the American Family
Association, and later when the boycott was joined by several other
organizations.
It was because of a decision by the restaurant chain known for Happy Meals
and
its Golden Arches to deliberately advocate for homo***uality. The company
has
given $20,000 to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and
placed
one of its executives on that group's board. The NGLCC, among other
things,
lobbies for same-*** "marriage" provisions.
"If McDonald's restaurants and franchises … follow the small business
advice
of the company's new homo***ual partner – the National Gay and Lesbian
Chamber
of Commerce (NGLCC), which received a $20,000 grant from McDonald's –
there
would be chaos," said Peter LaBarbera, chief of Americans for Truth.
Protesters gather at a McDonald's earlier this week near the cor****ate
headquarters in Chicago to join in a boycott of the chain for its
promotion of
homo***uality
LaBarbera's was one of several groups, also including the Culture
Campaign,
Liberty Counsel, the American Family Association of Pennsylvania and the
Illinois Family Institute, that have joined the boycott call.
Popko said there are Christians from several organizations in the area
working
on the McDonald's boycott.
"From customers, we've actually gotten a pretty good response. They see
the
signs and come up to us. When they ask, we just explain about the $20,000
donated to the NGLCC."
According to Beth Braun, a member of the group SaveBiblicalMarriage, which
is
arranging the protests, hundreds of homeschooling families and groups,
churches and others have been contacted "to encourage them to join the
boycott, if not in person, to send e-mails, call, and write the local,
regional and national divisions expressing their disgust."
"I know a lot of homeschool families," she told WND. "When they hear,
they're
just going 'yuck.'"
Following a link from the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce's
website leads to a promotional for children's Happy Meals at the McDonalds
website
"McDonalds should focus on food quality and safety issues instead of
attacking
the values held by the majority of people worldwide. Marriage between a
man
and a woman is the norm throughout the world. McDonalds' personal attack
against those who sup****t the traditional definition of marriage, while
siding
with a narrow group that promotes a radical redefinition, shows that
company
executives are out to lunch. McDonalds might as well change their signs to
read 'billions and billions insulted,'" said Mathew Staver, chief of
Liberty
Counsel.
"It's a shame that McDonald's would tarnish their family-friendly image,"
said
AFA Chairman Don Wildmon. "But the company has ramped up its sup****t of
the
gay agenda and it leaves us no option but to call for a boycott."
Wildmon had written the company with a plea for McDonald's to remain
neutral
in the culture war by removing McDonald's name and logo from the National
Gay
and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) Web site (where McDonald’s is
cited as
a partner and ally) and withdraw McDonald's VP of Communications Richard
Ellis' endorsement from the website. McDonald's ignored both requests.
"To put it politely, the company thumbed its nose at the Christian
community,"
Wildmon said.
"This boycott isn't about hiring homo***uals, or homo***uals eating at
McDonald's or how homo***ual employees are treated. It is about
McDonald's, as
a cor****ation, refusing to remain neutral in the culture war. The company
has
chosen not to remain neutral but to give the full weight of their
cor****ation
to promoting the homo***ual agenda, including homo***ual marriage," the
AFA
said.
The pro-family groups are encouraging families to do two things: sign,
print
and distribute a Boycott McDonald's petition at www.boycottmcdonalds.com;
and
call the local McDonald's to politely tell the manager they are boycotting
the
chain until it stops promoting the "gay" agenda.
McDonald's officials declined to return a WND call seeking comment on the
placement of its executive on the "gay" advocacy organization. But the
cor****ation sent a subsequent e-mail confirming its sup****t for the agenda
of
the homo***ual business lobby.
"McDonald's is indeed a Cor****ate Partner and Organizational Ally of
NGLCC.
Our vice president of U.S. communications, Richard Ellis, was recently
elected
to its board of directors," said the brief statement to WND from Heidi M.
Barker, senior director of media relations.
A spokeswoman for NGLCC refused to speak with WND except on "background"
when
asked about McDonald's financial contribution to the group. But she did
confirm the organization would not release information on its sponsors.
But Christians were further angered when a McDonald's executive said the
company would continue its campaign against such "hate."
Note: Concerned individuals may e-mail McDonald's cor****ate headquarters
or
call 1-800-244-6227.
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