Part II--Let us End the Hate--For the Truest Family Value Is Tolerance.

“Guilty as charged.”
Those were Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy’s words when the Baptist Press asked about his company funnelling millions of dollars in corporate profits to vehemently anti-gay groups, including ones that practice “gay-to-straight” conversion therapy and hate groups that advocate for the criminalization of homosexual behavior.
In response, on Friday night The Jim Henson Company severed ties with Chick-fil-A, and instead will be donating money to GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Now, Chick-fil-A is planning to partner with the Berenstain Bears for its next promotion, using the beloved bear family as a prize package for its Kid's Meals.

Click here to tell The Berenstain Bears to follow the Muppets’ lead and cut ties with Chick-fil-A. We've partnered with CREDO Action to bring as much pressure to bear as we can against corporate homophobia.

Chick-fil-A has a long history of handing out money to groups like Exodus International, which specializes in “gay conversion therapy,” a process that views homosexuality as a mental disorder which needs to be “cured.” In addition, Chick-fil-A supports the Family Research Council, which advocates for the criminalization of homosexuality and has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Chick-fil-A is fast becoming a national symbol for supporters of homophobia. Next Wednesday, August 1st, Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay supporter Mike Huckabee is organizing National Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day to support the company’s culture of homophobia. Two days later, on August 3rd, activists are organizing National Same Sex Kiss Day at Chick-fil-A to challenge Chick-fil-A's definition of a "real" family.
Chick-fil-A has faced a lot of criticism for its stance, but the Muppets cutting ties with Chick-fil-A has been the company’s biggest blow yet. Fast food toy partnerships are multi-million dollar endeavors, with companies using them as the centerpiece of huge advertising campaigns to their target audience of young children. Getting The Berenstain Bears to follow the Muppets out the door will add more fuel to a massive media firestorm and show Chick-fil-A that supporting anti-gay groups is definitely bad for business.
Tell the Berenstain Bears to cut ties with Chick-fil-A over its homophobic stance.
SumOfUs.org members have supported companies in the past for standing up for the LGBT community in the face of homophobic opposition, getting hundreds of thousands of people to sign thank you cards to Starbucks and JCPenney. Now we hope you’ll join us and our friends at CREDO Action as we take on a company that funds some of the worst anti-gay groups in the US.
Thank you for being one of us,

Claiborne, Emma and the rest of us

Dear Readers, we need to remind the writers of Berensain Bears that Families come in all shapes and colors, with only one thing in common that home is where the heart is or should be and that it is love that binds the family together.
Neither Hate Nor Bigotry should be Family Values.


After all, We Women and Homosexuals of both genders had better hang together or else, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, we will lose our Right to Live our Own Lives, Separately.

The US Christian Right is Pushing Anti-Gay, Anti-Women Policies Abroad

Even as delegates gather in Washington, D.C. for the XIX International Aids conference, Political Research Associates released its latest report, Colonizing African Values: How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa, documenting the U.S. Christian Right’s attempts to push an ideology hostile to reproductive and LGBT rights on sub-Saharan African countries.

In one notorious example in Tanzania in 2008, billboards depicted a “Faithful Condom User” as a skeleton -– a blatant attempt to discourage condom use as an effective HIV prevention method. Blazoned in clear letters underneath was the billboard’s sponsor: Human Life International (HLI), a group based in the United States.

P.S.--THE ONLY THING THAT I LOVE MORE THAN ENDING WITH A SOLUTION THAT ENDING ON A POSITIVE NOTE-->

Nearly 80k Thank General Mills for Marriage Equality Support

General Mills made headlines last month when the company announced its opposition to the discriminatory ballot measure in Minnesota that would ban committed, loving same-sex couples from marrying.
The National Organization for Marriage was, of course, not pleased – and promptly launched an ill-conceived campaign calling on consumers to boycott the iconic company for pushing a “radical social agenda.” Since the campaign’s inception, about 20,000 people have signed on.
HRC later launched an action thanking General Mills for supporting marriage equality – that action has nearly 80,000 supporters to date; four times the number of NOM supporters. Join those thanking General Mills and sign your name now.
Please, add your name to our petition. We’re sending a powerful message to General Mills that consumers back companies that support marriage equality. Just last week, Fortune 500 company Thomson Reuter also voiced its support for equality and came out against the amendment.
HRC is a proud supporter of the coalition, Minnesotans United for All Families, working to defeat the amendment banning same-sex marriage in the state.  HRC has set up a special fund – HRC Minnesota Family Freedom PAC – to direct 100 percent of your contribution to defeat the anti-marriage constitutional amendment in Minnesota.

Nearly 80k Thank General Mills for Marriage Equality Support--THANK YOU GENERAL MILLS INDEED--I AM SO GLAD THAT MY TWO FAVORITE CEREALS ARE MULTI-GRAIN CHEERIOS AND ORIGINAL TOTAL, which I personally love adding yogurt to for extra flavor and nutrition--a.k.a. pro-biotics.