Would you like fries with your bigotry?

I wouldn't normally pay much attention to what happens to McDonald's®. I don't like their offerings, but that's just me. And others.

However, credit where credit is due and McDonald's® has taken a stand for which they can only be commended.

The American Family Association (AFA) launched the boycott yesterday because McDonald's joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce several months ago and placed an executive on the group's board of directors, in addition to donating to the chamber.

The association asked McDonald's to remove itself from the chamber but the burger-maker declined, leading to the boycott. "We're saying that there are people who support AFA who don't appreciate their dollars from the hamburgers they bought being put into an organization that's going to fight against the values they believe in," Tim Wildmon, the association's president, said yesterday.

Really? Does the AFA believe its members, wallowing in their bigotry, have the will power and self-control to actually stay away from their staple diet?

Or will they buckle the minute they smell a Big Mac®?

"Hatred has no place in our culture," McDonald's USA spokesman Bill Whitman said. "That includes McDonald's, and we stand by and support our people to live and work in a society free of discrimination and harassment."

And about that AFA.

The AFA "exists to motivate and equip citizens to change the culture to reflect Biblical truth and traditional family values," the group's Web site reads.

Ah yes, the one true religion. Intolerance, bigotry and hatred.

In a May 29 letter to Wildmon, McDonald's global chief diversity officer Pat Harris wrote: "McDonald's is associated with countless local and national affinity groups. . . . We have a well-established and proud heritage of associating with individuals and organizations that share the belief that every person has the right to live and work in a community free of discrimination."

Harris was addressing the founder of the same outfit that, in October of 1989, was sued by WaldenBooks under the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). That suit was dropped when the AFA backed down and promised not to use any further extortive practices against the complainants.

In 1996, Wildmon and his band of fellow travellers targeted Walt Disney Co. claiming that Michael Eisner, Disney CEO, was promoting a homosexual agenda. That boycott was completely unsuccessful and ended, according to Wildmon, after Eisner left Disney. During the period of the AFA boycott Disney reported a steady increase in earnings in all its divisions.

I'm betting McDonald's has a tighter hold on all those fat and salt addicted "Christians" than Wildmon can possibly imagine. Hate doesn't travel far when there's a McMeal in the works.