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(Washington) Ford's reversal this week on
advertising in the gay media was more the result of pressure exerted by
shareholders than by demands for diversity from LGBT rights groups 365Gay.com
has learned.
Following Ford's announcement a week ago that it
would end all advertising in the gay media the conservative American Family
Association declared victory and said it would end a threatened boycott of the
automaker.
The announcements sparked demands by gay groups
for an immediate meeting with the company and on Wednesday Ford reversed course
saying it would continue its ads.
But the decision may not have been the result of
pressure from gay groups, but rather from at least two large institutional
shareholders who supports LGBT issues.
One of them was the New York State Local
Retirement System - the biggest state pension plan in the country.
Its administrator, New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi
confirmed Friday that he contacted Ford Chair William Clay Ford Jr. to voice his
displeasure that the company had appeared to cave-in to demands from the AFA.
In a letter to Ford, Hevesi said he wanted the
know the reasons behind the decision.
"I am interested to know what cost/benefit analysis you performed in
order to reach the conclusion that ending advertising to that particular
customer base would be a positive strategic move for the company," Hevesi
wrote in his letter to the chair.
Hevesi not only pointed out the importance of
diversity, but the importance of being seen as unbiased. He also noted
that the LGBT market is worth an estimated $610 billion annually.
Hevesi is the sole trustee of the retirement fund
which controls about 9.4 million shares of Ford stock valued
about $107 million.
Ford, which this year teetered on economic
disaster was concerned that its position could be weakened by shareholder
dissent sources within the company said.
The company officially maintains the intervention
of Hevesi and other shareholder groups played no part in the final decision to
maintain its LGBT ads and made no mention of the groups in its statement to gay
rights groups.
"It is my hope that this will remove any
ambiguity about Ford's desire to advertise to all important audiences and put
this particular issue behind us," said Ford V.P. Joe W. Laymon in the
company statement on Wednesday (story)
Hevesi has been a longtime gay supporter.
Before becoming state comptroller he occupied a
similar position in New York City, where he used the clout of the city pension
fund shares in ExxonMobil to muster support for including sexual orientation to
the ExonMobil non-discrimination policy.
While pressuring Exxon has so far been
unsuccessful, the issue keeps coming up at shareholder meetings and support has
been growing annually.
Hevesi in 2004 used his position as state
comptroller to order the NY pension plans to treat the marriages of gay and
lesbian workers who married in Canada in the same way as heterosexual marriages.
It was the first time that married gay and lesbian couples in New York have been
recognized by a state agency.
He is only one of two statewide elected officials
who support same-sex marriage. The other is Attorney General Elliot
Spitzer.
Meanwhile, the AFA says it is considering
reinstating its boycott of Ford. (story)
©365Gay.com 2005
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