Barilla's eback om antigay abyss stirs the pot Italy's marriage battle - LGBTQ Natn

Contents:

• BARILLA GO OM WORST TO FIRST ON GAY RIGHTS
• DID BARILLA PASTA'S CHAIRMAN MAKE ANTI-GAY REMARKS?
• BARILLA’S EBACK OM ANTIGAY ABYSS STIRS THE POT ITALY’S MARRIAGE BATTLE
• U.S. RIGHTS GROUPS URGE BOYTT OF BARILLA PASTA AFTER ANTI-GAY REMARKS
• BARILLA PASTA BARON'S ANTI-GAY MENT PROMPTS BOYTT LL
• GAY RIGHTS ADVOT BOYTT BARILLA AFTER PRINT OF PASTA MAKER'S REMARKS
• BARILLA PASTA HOT WATER OVER COMPANY PRINT'S ANTI-GAY COMMENTS
• BARILLA: ‘GAYS N EAT SOMEONE ELSE’S PASTA’
• BARILLA UNR PRSURE AFTER EXEC'S GAY REMARKS
• PASTA MAKER BARILLA UNR FIRE FOR ANTI-GAY MENTS

BARILLA GO OM WORST TO FIRST ON GAY RIGHTS

“I would never do a mercial wh a homosexual fay, not for lack of rpect, but bee we don’t agree wh them, ” Barilla said on Italy’s bt-known rad talk show. If gay ctomers didn’t like that, they uld go buy another brand of pasta, he said.

The chairman, who turned 60 last year and has five children, further clarified that he opposed adoptn by gay parents. He said a vio posted to Facebook that he has "always rpected every person I've met, cludg gays and their fai, whout any distctns" and "never discrimated agast anyone. The chairman of the Barilla pasta brand once proclaimed he would never e homosexual upl his advertisements.

The chairman of the Barilla pasta brand once said he would never e homosexual upl his advertisements. In September 2013, Guido Barilla, the chairman of Barilla Group, one of the world's leadg pasta manufacturers, engenred ntroversy and prompted lls for boytts when durg the urse of an terview wh an Italian rad program, he rpond to a qutn about whether he would ever feature a gay fay his pany's mercials by sayg (as roughly translated to English): "We won't clu gays our ads, bee we like the tradnal fay.

DID BARILLA PASTA'S CHAIRMAN MAKE ANTI-GAY REMARKS?

If gays don't like , they n always eat another brand of pasta.

BARILLA’S EBACK OM ANTIGAY ABYSS STIRS THE POT ITALY’S MARRIAGE BATTLE

"I would never do (a mercial) wh a homosexual fay, not for lack of rpect but bee we don't agree wh them. In the terview, Barilla said he opposed adoptn by gay parents, but was favour of allowg gay marriage, which is not legal Italy.

His ment about advertisg was rponse to a direct qutn about whether he would ever feature a gay fay his pany's mercials. If gays "like our pasta and our advertisg, they'll eat our pasta, if they don't like then they won't eat and they n eat another brand, " he said.

Then the pasta magnate upped the ante by attackg gay adoptn. "I have no rpect for adoptn by gay fai bee this ncerns a person who is not able to choose, " he said. - I have the utmost rpect for gay people and for everyone's right to exprs themselv.

U.S. RIGHTS GROUPS URGE BOYTT OF BARILLA PASTA AFTER ANTI-GAY REMARKS

- I've also said — and I would like to reerate — that I rpect gay marriag.

Not long ago, pasta-maker Barilla was jt one more major pany that had n afoul of the gay rights movement, a distctn earned last year when s chairman said he would never feature a same-sex uple an ad. If gays didn’t like , he add, they uld eat somethg else.

But a sign of how toxic has bee for a pany to be viewed as uniendly toward gays, Barilla has ma a dramatic turnaround the space of one year, expandg health benefs for transgenr workers and their fai, ntributg money to gay rights , and featurg a lbian uple on a promotnal Web se. Some of the gay advot who have worked wh Guido Barilla sce his ments believe his ntrn is scere. “He was horrified at the nsequenc and his personal beliefs, ” said David Mixner, a veteran gay rights activist and thor who served as a nsultant for Barilla.

BARILLA PASTA BARON'S ANTI-GAY MENT PROMPTS BOYTT LL

"Italian Pasta Baron's Anti-Gay Comment Prompts Boytt Call. If gays didn’t like , he add, they uld eat somethg a sign of how toxic has bee for a pany to be viewed as uniendly toward gays, Barilla has ma a dramatic turnaround the space of one year, expandg health benefs for transgenr workers and their fai, ntributg money to gay rights , and featurg a lbian uple on a promotnal Web se. Barilla has journeyed om gay rights pariah to poster child — on Wednday received a perfect sre om a proment gay rights group that rat pani on their gay-iendls.

It is an about-face that highlights how pani, which typilly shy away om ntroversy, are creasgly beg forced to take sis the cultural battle over gay rights and same-sex marriage — and how cisively pro-gay forc have gaed the upper hoehold-name brands have also found themselv hot water over actns that were perceived to be anti-gay. Chick-fil-A stopped givg to certa anizatns 2012 after earng the ire of gay rights groups that acced the fast-food cha of supportg anti-gay pani were subject to boytts, though there has been a unter effort by socially nservative groups to support and embrace peril for pani is not short-term profs, bee boytts rarely affect revenue directly, said Mary-Hunter McDonnell, a profsor of strategy at Geetown Universy’s McDonough School of Bs. “Really, boytts are about threateng a pany’s public image and reputatn, ” she said, and a tarnished brand n ultimately hurt the bottom the past, pani had to be reful not to offend groups that opposed homosexualy, said Bob Weck, a rporate crisis nsultant who specializ gay issu.

Two s ago, Weck helped Amerin Airl weather cricism over s cisn to market to gays.

GAY RIGHTS ADVOT BOYTT BARILLA AFTER PRINT OF PASTA MAKER'S REMARKS

His advice at the time was for the pany to expla to the opposn that this was simply a good bs more recently, opns have shifted dramatilly to the pot that is a posive for some pani to be viewed as supportive of gay rights, particularly among young ctomers, who might view cints such as the one articulated a year ago by Barilla as “stupid and backwards, ” he said. Starbucks, Nike and Microsoft, for stance, endorsed legalizg same-sex marriage Washgton state the se of Barilla — a 130-year-old pany based Parma, Italy, that is the world's largt pasta manufacturer — the blowback was fierce September 2013 when Guido Barilla told an Italian rad host, "I would never do [a mercial] wh a homosexual uple, not for lack of rpect, but bee we don't agree wh them, " acrdg to reports. "He ntued: “If [gays] don’t like , they n go eat another brand.

Harvard Universy dumped Barilla om s feterias, gay rights groups promoted nam of other brands of pasta, and Barilla's petors seized on the opportuny to prent themselv as more forward-thkg, wh Bertolli Germany postg a ment on s Facebook page promotg "pasta and love for all! ”Some of the gay advot who have worked wh Guido Barilla sce his ments believe his ntrn is scere.

“He was horrified at the nsequenc and his personal beliefs, ” said David Mixner, a veteran gay rights activist and thor who served as a nsultant for lled the recent diversy iative “the most all-enpassg effort to bounce back om an unfortunate misstatement that I’ve ever been part of. ”Seth Adam, a spokman for GLAAD, a gay advocy group that has also met wh Barilla, said is important to acknowledge someone when they have unrgone an “evolutn” support of gay rights. It has broaned s anti-discrimatn policy to ver gay and transgenr pany also has donated money to the Tyler Clementi Foundatn, an anti-bullyg anizatn found by the parents of a gay Rutgers Universy stunt who mted suici, and featured a lbian uple on a Web se voted to urgg fai to eat more meals will same-sex upl be turng up any televisn mercials?

BARILLA PASTA HOT WATER OVER COMPANY PRINT'S ANTI-GAY COMMENTS

In 2013, the CEO of Barilla, one of the world’s biggt dried pasta brands, marred an otherwise anodyne terview about the pany’s legacy wh an egreg homophobic ment. “I would never do a mercial wh a homosexual fay, ” Guido Barilla said live on the Italian statn Rad 24, “not for lack of rpect, but bee we don’t agree wh them.

But the efforts, mendable as they are, may not have had a huge effect on Barilla’s bottom le — and ’s possible Guido’s homophobic ments didn’t eher. Acrdg to the Bloomberg report, Barilla’s revenue was better 2013, the year of the homophobic ment, than 2012.

BARILLA: ‘GAYS N EAT SOMEONE ELSE’S PASTA’

Like Barilla, Chick-fil-A’s CEO has a history of makg homophobic ments. And both have CEOs who have ma homophobic ments the past. Chairman Guido Barilla changed the urse of that bacle by rentg some alarmg antigay ments he ma, a Facebook post that promised he’d learned his lson.

What he had said was that he “would never do an advertisement wh a homosexual fay… if the gays don’t like they n go an eat another brand.

In 2014, Barilla featured a gay man g out to his parents Italy’s first LGBTQ-iendly TV mercial.

BARILLA UNR PRSURE AFTER EXEC'S GAY REMARKS

And one year after earng the srn of the gay muny, Barilla was award a perfect sre the Human Rights Campaign’s Equaly Inx, drawg headl as a “diversy trailblazer. Now, as Slate reported, wh the Barilla boytt of 2013 still h their mds, Italian LGBTQ activists are beg more vol challengg normalized homophobia. But is Sdi Arabia that is both s new target for growth and a natn that is notor for antigay laws.

Homosexualy is not only outlawed, but punishable by ath, as Equalx not.

Likewise, same-sex marriage is agast the law, and gay people are not allowed to adopt children. It remas to be seen if Barilla’s improved reputatn Italy, the Uned Stat and around the world will suffer as a rult of s new bs reprsive, antigay Sdi Arabia.

PASTA MAKER BARILLA UNR FIRE FOR ANTI-GAY MENTS

Chelsea Handler and gay, Mlim iends pose at Whe Hoe wh Nordstrom bags.

And ternatnal gay rights supporters lled on Friday for a boytt of Italian pasta maker Barilla, whose chairman said he would never feature a gay fay s of Barilla pasta are seen the kchen of a rtrant Rome September 27, 2013.