Homousesexual
The Southern Baptist Convention – with 15 million members, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. – votes to boycott the Disney Corporation and all its products over the company’s decision to grant health benefits to same-sex partners of its employees.
Brethren, I say unto you, thou shalt not enter the kingdom of Mickey, for the mouse hath sinned.
Nor shalt thou root for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, for they are unclean in our eyes. Purchase not Little Mermaid bed sheets for the kiddies, nor Lion King pajamas, nor Hercules action figures no matter how the little ones may wail and beseech thee, for this merchandise is an abomination and it shall be cast out of the toy box.
And though the products of Disney may be more plentiful on the TV screens than the lilies of the valley, thou shalt avert thine eyes. Yea, though their sit coms may seem wholesome, though shalt not watch Home Improvement with that nice Tim Allen, not even in reruns, for Disney has a share of the gross. Winnie the Pooh – and Tigger too – and anything featuring Hayley Mills, these are forbidden to you, and to your children, and to your children’s children, for there is a blight upon them.
And he who tunes in Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, he shall be known as a wicked man, for that too is a Disney product. In like manner, thou shalt shun the Arts & Entertainment network. The righteous man shall find his arts and entertainment elsewhere.
Take thy news from Tom Brokaw of the Peacock network, or Dan Rather of CBS, or even Bobbie Batista on CNN, but gaze not on the chiselled features of Peter Jennings, lest ye turn into a pillar of salt. For it is written in corporate ledgers that ABC is a subdivision of Disney.
Some in the congregation may raise up their voices and ask why – why must we turn our backs on Disney, who gave us Dumbo and Donald and Mary Poppins, and is one of the few remaining sources of TV and videos that are safe for the kids to watch? Brethren, I know it is passing strange that it should be the Disney corporation that feels our wrath, while we boycott not the makers of Sailor Moon.
But know ye this: in the Kingdom of Uncle Walt, it has been decreed that no man or woman shall know bigotry on the basis of sexual preference. And this, in the name of Christian charity, we cannot abide.
- CBC Radio June 19, 1997