# American Family Association to boycott Google over gay rights support. Vows to test their own meat! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 11, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859 "2012-07-11T02:18:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/1 "2012-07-11T02:18:53Z")
A meaty test indeed! A veritable bar-be-que cook off of your convictions. Google is surely quaking at the prospect of losing this chunk of business. > [@](#): > > The American Family Association, a conservative nonprofit group that recently boycotted Oreos over Kraft Food’s support of gay rights, announced it may also boycott Google products for similar reasons. The search company recently started a campaign, “Legalize Love,” in which it pledges to fight anti-gay legislation worldwide. > Buster Wilson, host of the organization’s AFA Today show, said during a July 9 broadcast that while a boycott seems in order given the others the group is maintaining, it won’t be easy: > > "We are a part of boycotting efforts similar to this with other businesses — this is going to be a hard one for a lot of us. > > It’s more than just a search engine. Many of us have Android phones … many of us use Google Calendar, Google Tasks, and Gmail… YouTube, and all the other things, it’s not just the search engine." > [@](#): > > Wilson did not give any details of the potential boycott, focusing simply on the fact that the Google initiative exists and that the AFA had a challenge in front of them. “This will test the meat of our convictions,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/2 "2012-07-11T02:36:27Z")
Well, cutting themselves off from easy access to the zeitgeist probably IS a good way to prolong their particular brand of atavism. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/3 "2012-07-11T02:36:52Z")
Google should counter by ISP-banning all of their devices, and removing AFA entirely from their search engine. A reverse boycott. (I dunno if this is even technically possible, but it has a certain poetic appeal). ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/4 "2012-07-11T02:58:49Z")
Considering how effective (not very) most of their and other organizations of their ilk have been historically, I really don’t think Google has anything to worry about. Face it, when the SBC decided to boycott Disney, most of their members didn’t last too long before seeing a movie, tuning in to the Disney channel or going to a theme park. When the bible thumpers tried to boycott P&G, it wasn’t too long before folks went back to their favorite brands. It sounds like a moral stand that most of them think sounds like the right thing to do, but very few will be willing to give up all of the stuff associated with Google. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/5 "2012-07-11T03:13:38Z")
Well, I said in the GD thread that I didn’t really approve of Google’s announcement, but this is hilarious and gives me the warm fuzzies. Cut that nose! Spite that face! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/6 "2012-07-11T03:24:54Z")
> [@missred](#): > > Face it, when the SBC decided to boycott Disney, most of their members didn’t last too long before seeing a movie, tuning in to the Disney channel or going to a theme park. When **the bible thumpers tried to boycott P&G,** it wasn’t too long before folks went back to their favorite brands. Them thar righteous Og-fearing bible-thunkin’ boycutters DID succeed eventually in banishing the P&G Man-in-the-Moon logo, did they not? [sup](Not that I give a rat’s azz really about any Big Bad Capitalist Corporation’s logo, of course, but I actually was rooting for P&G on that one.)[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/7 "2012-07-11T07:47:02Z")
I guess bigotry ain’t as easy as it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/8 "2012-07-11T12:44:10Z")
Shouldn’t these people avoid computers in general, since that homo Alan Turing was so influential in computer science? ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/9 "2012-07-11T13:10:06Z")
I’m still a bit goosebumpy when it comes to this stuff. I came out almost 20 years ago and to see the climate change from where it was in 1993 to now getting backing from major corporations is amazing. Even the changes in the last 5 years are so significant to me that it’s a bit dizzying as I watch what used to be the GLBT community on the fringe to those opposed to them on the fringe. Last month [General Mills came out against the marriage amendment in Minnesota.](http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/159057195.html) They could’ve not done anything and not worried about their customer base. But they didn’t and that’s quite huge as [cereal is one of the most competitive markets in the world.](http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/08/garden/us-is-urged-to-investigate-cereal-prices.html). They lost customers, I’m sure, but what’s funny was that the opposition to the marriage amendment’s request was not for businesses to come out for the amendment, but [rather to just stay neutral](http://www.kare11.com/news/article/980936/391/General-Mills-marriage-amendment-stance-draws-picketers). > [@](#): > > The National Organization for Marriage, a Washington D.C. based group supporting the amendment, sent a letter in early June to Minnesota’s largest companies urging them to stay on the fence on the issue. How often do you hear “we’re really against this issue and you can help by supporting…well, not supporting, but how about just not picking sides?” To me, that’s hilarious. It’s just great to see the tide turning in such a positive way. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/10 "2012-07-11T18:36:57Z")
These days, if you’re not on Google, you don’t exist. Not only will this boycott probably fail, but it’ll do more damage to their brand as they’ll probably disappear off some people’s radar completely ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/11 "2012-07-11T19:01:20Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > They lost customers, I’m sure,… I’m not so sure about that, at least not in net. The AFA position is not the popular one any more, and the gay market is very lucrative (lots of double-income no-kids families with a lot of discretionary income). I think it’s more likely that companies are picking up revenue with these announcements than losing it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/12 "2012-07-12T19:29:31Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > These days, if you’re not on Google, you don’t exist. Not only will this boycott probably fail, but it’ll do more damage to their brand as they’ll probably disappear off some people’s radar completely I seriously doubt these people know enough to remove themselves from Google’s search results. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/13 "2012-07-12T20:23:04Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I seriously doubt these people know enough to remove themselves from Google’s search results. But, as suggested by **Oakminster** ’s counterboycott idea, I’m pretty sure Google knows how to do it. You think 3rd world dictators have power over their chunk of burned out dirt? Google can effectively erase you from existence all over the world in seconds. Frankly, I think it’d be awesome if ALL food producers came out flamingly pro gay. Then the 'phobes could boycott food and the world would become a better place within a week. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/14 "2012-07-12T23:17:17Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Google should counter by ISP-banning all of their devices, and removing AFA entirely from their search engine. A reverse boycott. (I dunno if this is even technically possible, but it has a certain poetic appeal). Technically, sure. But it’s a PR nightmare (and really counter to Google’s general free internet philosophy). Besides, it would just give these idiots more press. Much better to ignore them and let them accelerate their descent into irrelevance. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-to-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-vows-to-test-their-own-meat/627859/15 "2012-07-13T17:29:55Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > I’m still a bit goosebumpy when it comes to this stuff. I came out almost 20 years ago and to see the climate change from where it was in 1993 to now getting backing from major corporations is amazing. Even the changes in the last 5 years are so significant to me that it’s a bit dizzying as I watch what used to be the GLBT community on the fringe to those opposed to them on the fringe. I hear you. I love that when Obama made his recent gay marriage statementm the GOP reaction wasn’t the usual “Next you’ll want children to marry puppies! What happened to the institution of marriage?” garbage. Instead, they went “Oh sure, you’ll say anything popular to get re-elected.” That’s kind of amazing when you think about it. They know the popular fight over true equal rights is effectively over, and they know they lost. It’s just a matter of getting the law to match what the general public actually wants.