Paul Weyrich
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2003

Most people would think that means getting travelers to their intended destination quickly and efficiently, making the experience of flying as pleasant as possible.

But defenders of traditional values know that what the airline does "best" is to be a major corporate sponsor of leading youth down the wrong path, one that can lead to poor health habits, even an early death.

American Airlines was one of the sponsors of the North American Conference on Bisexuality held last month in San Diego. What its support, which included a discount on airfare for attendees in return for being publicized as the official conference airline, helped to subsidize was workshops on erotic touch and the distribution of pamphlets aimed at convincing impressionable youth that they are not heterosexual. "I Think I Might Be Gay" was the title of one of the pamphlets distributed at the conference.

Millions of believers in traditional values fly on this airline and it is an outrage that they are using our dollars to subsidize a conference like this.

The fact that their public relations staff did not return phone calls about their sponsorship of this conference to CNS News.com reporter Marc Morano indicates that the airline is rightfully embarrassed that they spent their money on a conference promoting a lifestyle that leads to higher than average rates of AIDS/HIV and many other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as alcoholism and suicide. Then, of course, there is the question of the immoral basis of the lifestyle.

One of the conferences that American's sponsorship helped to underwrite provided instructions on " Hosting Sensual/Sex Parties" that conference organizer Luigi Ferrer described to Morano as "providing the information that our community needs ... talking about sex and how to do it" and promoting the inaccurately named safe sex practices.

Ironically, as Morano noted in his article, the airline had been laying off thousands of employees but could manage to cut prices for the attendees of this conference.

WorldNetDaily.com's Allyson Smith wrote about the entertainment at the conference that included a screening of "Night of the Living Bi-Dolls," which included fake cannibalism, shooting and decapitation.

This is no aberration. American has made it a point to cater to the homosexual/bisexual market, placing money above the defense of our traditional morality. On Sept. 12-14, in Washington, for instance, the airline is listed as a sponsor of Capital Classic XI, a gay and lesbian tennis tournament.

Many Christians will undoubtedly be angered by what American Airlines is doing – namely, providing corporate sponsorship for a lifestyle that is very costly to our nation and deadly to its practitioners. How many will be angered enough to demand change from the airline?

Six years ago, the Southern Baptist Conference launched a boycott of the Disney Company for its "gay days" at Disneyland. But the corporation is huge and its holdings are so diverse it is hard to make an impact boycotting a multi-faceted corporation.

However, American Airlines can be much more effectively targeted. It has one basic product and it has easily measured statistics. It is headquartered in the heart of the Bible Belt and it lost $1.12 billion during the first half of this year. There are plenty of competitors looking to make inroads against American Airlines. Just concentrating a boycott's efforts on strategically important routes could make a big difference to their bottom line provided that concerned Christians really participate.

American Airlines is not the only corporation that has sent traditional values crashing. Homosexual rights groups have been doing everything they can to browbeat other corporations into backing their agenda.

William J. Murray of the Religious Freedom Coalition is on the warpath about Orbitz, the online travel company that has been airing TV advertisements featuring a homosexual marionette making moves on a man at a swimming pool.

The company is proud that they are on TV demonstrating that they are "gay-friendly." In their view, it makes business sense because the average homosexual outspends heterosexuals on leisure travel by $220 a year.

However, as Bill points out, "Orbitz apparently fails to realize that this statistic would be a useful business tool only if 50 percent of the population were homosexual. Although 10 percent of men have been homosexually raped by the time they reach adulthood, less than 1 percent of men are actually practicing homosexuals. Thus each homosexual would have to spend $137,000.00 per year on travel to match that spend by normal heterosexual men."

Bill makes the point that many companies are very anxious to spend money to combat AIDS while often subsidizing the groups that promote the lifestyle that leads to it. That is their right in an economic free market, but as consumers we have the power to choose competitors whose giving is compatible with our values and those that are essential to our nation's well-being.

When an airline like American spends money on a conference whose aim is to undermine traditional marriages and to foist the deadly, immoral bisexual lifestyle on youth, it should make Christians who are concerned about the spiritual health of our country wonder if our dollars wouldn't be better placed with its competitors.

Paul M.Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.

Editor's note:
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