Hiding in the Backwaters Just one more blog on the net.

The King of Wishful Thinking

Last week a shareholder of Ford Motor Co., one Robert Hurley of Alton, Ill, introduced a resolution that would strike protections for GLBT employees from company policy and prohibit Ford from contributing to GLBT organizations. Fearing the resolution would hurt Ford's ability to hire talent and negatively impact sales Ford tried to keep the resolution off the agenda, but Hurley went to the SEC and forced a vote.

That Alton was acting in concert with anti-gay organizations is all but a given. I'm not sure what they expected the out come to be. Perhaps they thought Ford shareholders would vote the same way the public has voted in the many amendments to state constitutions that have been introduced in the last few years. They probably didn't take into consideration that shareholders rarely actually vote and just rubber-stamp the company's recommendations (in this case, to reject the resolution). They probably also misjudged the difference between voting for an amendment that targets "others" (which doesn't personally impact them) and voting for a resolution that could hurt company profits and thus the stock price and thus their investment (which does personally impact them). In any case, what did happen was certainly not what they hoped for. The resolution was defeated with only 5% of Ford stockholders voting in favor.¹ Apparently it is a very exclusive group who agrees with one supporter of the resolution who believes Ford's financial troubles are directly attributable to their gay friendly policies.²

Predictably, Dr. Don Wildmon, Head Wingnut at the AFA declared victory, just has he has in every failed initiative his organization has ever conceived.

The mere fact that five percent voted for this proposal came as a shock. I think it sends a loud message," says the AFA leader. "And we're very grateful that we got that five percent and that this issue can come back up again next year. We have a lot of time to work on it."²

Perhaps he hasn't noticed that trends with respect to gay and lesbian rights are not moving in his favor. On the other hand Dr. Wildmon gives every indication of living in his own reality. Who knows what's going on in his own private universe.

HAT TIP: Pam's House Blend