Pro-Family Leaders Challenge Walgreens on 'Gay Games' Sponsorship
By Ed Thomas
(AgapePress) - A leading national pharmacy and good retailer is saying
its participation as a sponsor in the upcoming "Gay Games" in Chicago
next year is primarily for engaging in AIDS awareness education and
distributing treatment drugs. But the logic of that statement is being
refuted by a pro-family organization based in Illinois.
The Illinois Family Institute (IFI) continues to spearhead petition
campaigns, encouraging the state's citizens to voice their displeasure
with major corporations that are sponsoring the 2006 Gay Games. IFI
executive director Peter LaBarbera says if Walgreens -- with its
corporate office in Illinois -- is trying to fight HIV, it is
counterproductive for them to contribute $100,000 and take part in an
event celebrating the unhealthy lifestyle that produces HIV.
"What Walgreens is saying is that this $100,000 gift allow them to
dispense HIV drugs at the Gay Games and also to engage in AIDS
awareness," LaBarbera explains. "Now first of all, a lot of those AIDS
awareness programs are compromised because they promote homosexuality.
"But even if they were effective, we think it's ridiculous to say that
you are stopping HIV but at the same time you're celebrating homosexual
behavior, which is one of the big causes of AIDS.
"They can dispense HIV drugs," acknowledges LaBarbera, "but they don't
have to give to an event which is just celebrating homosexuality in the
name of sport."
He also says it is important that Chicago residents call Mayor Richard
M. Daley to task for his apparent turnaround on pro-family values and
issues -- including agreeing to be co-chair of the Gay Games.
"There was a time when the mayor was pro-life and pro-family -- and his
father was certainly pro-family," says LaBarbera, referring to the
six-term mayor who died in 1975. "We think it's sad to see Mayor Daly
pandering in such an extreme way on this homosexual issue."
Another pro-family group -- the American Family Association -- also
takes issue with Walgreens' justification for the financial gift to the
Gay Games. AFA contends the donation was made to "placate" homosexual
activists, a group it says should already know plenty about AIDS.
"If any group should be aware of the dangers of AIDS and how to prevent
it, it should be homosexual activists," says a statement from AFA
founder Don Wildmon. He points out that billions of dollars have
already been spent to educate the public about AIDS.
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