NOM Continues Anti-Gay Hypocrisy With General Mills Boycott

On Monday, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) launched a boycott of General Mills over the company’s public opposition to the Minnesota Marriage Amendment. The boycott mirrors NOM’s international, wildly unsuccessful protest against Starbucks, which was launched in April.

In a blog post, NOM president Brian Brown wrote:

If you had a hard time figuring out what coffee has to do with gay marriage, good luck figuring out what the connection is with breakfast cereals. But for whatever reason, General Mills has entered the Culture War, announcing its corporate opposition to the marriage amendment in Minnesota on the ballot this November which would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Brown directed his supporters to sign a petition asking General Mills to withdraw its opposition to the marriage amendment. The petition reads in part:

It’s not the role of corporate management to unilaterally endorse a controversial political issue unrelated to a company’s core business – particularly when doing so will alienate a large percentage of customers, employees and shareholders.

NOM’s demand for corporate neutrality in the battle over marriage equality is, of course, completely disingenuous. When it was discovered that the fast food giant Chick-fil-A donated millions of dollars to anti-gay organizations, NOM rallied to its defense, repeatedly encouraging its supporters to continue buying from the chain. NOM even promoted the late Chuck Colson’s claim that attempts to boycott Chick-fil-A were “intolerant.”

And, in the past, NOM has consistently condemned any and all efforts to take action against anti-gay corporations and individuals – including boycotts that mirrored NOM’s efforts:

• threats to boycott Florida business over ties to anti-gay Rep. Allen West (R-FL)
• the “ricochet strategy” of boycotting New Balance over ties to Mitt Romney
• calls to boycott Blue Bunny ice cream over ties to anti-gay Bob Vander Plaats
• a supposed boycott of anti-gay NY town clerk Rose Marie Belforti’s artisan cheese farm
• pressuring law firm King & Spalding to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
• a call to “boycott” offering services to anti-equality New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez

Despite the wording of NOM’s petition, the General Mills boycott has nothing to do with trying to preserve corporate neutrality in the fight over same-sex marriage. It’s all about punishing companies that dare to step out of line with NOM’s anti-equality agenda.

Previously:

Meet Robert Gagnon, The Anti-Gay Professor Speaking At NOM’s ITAF Conference

NOM Still Peddling The “Being Gay Is A Choice” Myth

NOM Launches Full Court Press For Discredited Gay Parenting Study