U.S. rights groups urge boytt of Barilla pasta after anti-gay remarks | Rters

Contents:

• DID BARILLA PASTA'S CHAIRMAN MAKE ANTI-GAY REMARKS?
• BARILLA’S EBACK OM ANTIGAY ABYSS STIRS THE POT ITALY’S MARRIAGE BATTLE
• IN COUNTRY'S FIRST GAY-FRIENDLY AD, SON COM OUT OVER PASTA ITALY
• BARILLA GO OM WORST TO FIRST ON GAY RIGHTS
• BARILLA PASTA WON'T FEATURE GAY FAI IN ADS, SAYS CRICS CAN 'EAT ANOTHER BRAND OF PASTA'
• PASTA MAKER BARILLA PLANS "CLIVE" TV ADS AFTER ANTI-GAY REMARKS
• THE INTER REF TO EAT ANTI-GAY PASTA
• CHAIRMAN OF BARILLA PASTA: ‘GAYS N GO EAT ANOTHER BRAND’
• BARILLA PASTA BARON'S ANTI-GAY MENT PROMPTS BOYTT LL
• U.S. RIGHTS GROUPS URGE BOYTT OF BARILLA PASTA AFTER ANTI-GAY REMARKS
• BARILLA PASTA TO GAY PEOPLE: EAT SOMETHG ELSE

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

“I would never do an ad wh a homosexual fay… If the gays don’t like they n go an eat another brand. “I have no rpect for adoptn by gay fai bee this ncerns a person who is not able to choose. “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.

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.

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

Acrdg to the Bloomberg report, Barilla’s revenue was better 2013, the year of the homophobic ment, than 2012. 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. The chairman of the Barilla pasta brand once proclaimed he would never e homosexual upl his advertisements.

IN COUNTRY'S FIRST GAY-FRIENDLY AD, SON COM OUT OVER PASTA ITALY

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

"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.

BARILLA GO OM WORST TO FIRST ON GAY RIGHTS

"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.

BARILLA PASTA WON'T FEATURE GAY FAI IN ADS, SAYS CRICS CAN 'EAT ANOTHER BRAND OF PASTA'

- 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.

PASTA MAKER BARILLA PLANS "CLIVE" TV ADS AFTER ANTI-GAY REMARKS

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.

THE INTER REF TO EAT ANTI-GAY PASTA

"Italian Pasta Baron's Anti-Gay Comment Prompts Boytt Call. 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. 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.

CHAIRMAN OF BARILLA PASTA: ‘GAYS N GO EAT ANOTHER BRAND’

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. Chelsea Handler and gay, Mlim iends pose at Whe Hoe wh Nordstrom bags. Fd, a ozen food pany, produced what is believed to be the first gay-iendly ad the European untry.

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

The ad ne months after the chairman of Italian pasta maker Barilla me unr fire for sayg that he would never e a gay fay his ads. ” Gay activists Europe praised the vio for showsg the simplicy and the daily life of a gay uple.

“It’s a posive step forward when different typ of fai are portrayed ads, as they ronate wh parts of society that are ually margalized, ” said Juris Lavrikovs, the munitns manager of ILGA, Europe’s Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans & Intersex Associatn. 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 Barilla Group says his pany will not feature gay fai advertisements for his products bee he lik the "tradnal" fay.

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

" Guido Barilla ma the anti-gay ments durg an terview wh La Zanzara on Rad24 Wednday.

The rad host asked him why his pany do not have ads wh gay fai.

BARILLA PASTA TO GAY PEOPLE: EAT SOMETHG ELSE

If gays like our pasta and our advertisgs, they will eat our pasta; if they don’t like that, they will eat someone else’s pasta. I would not do a mercial wh a homosexual fay, not for lack of rpect toward homosexuals – who have the right to do whatever they want whout disturbg others – but bee I don’t agree wh them, and I thk we want to talk to tradnal fai.

" Barilla said he rpects people's right to do what they want whout disturbg others, but that he do not agree wh gay adoptn. "I rpect same-sex marriage bee that ncerns people who want to ntract marriage, but I absolutely don’t rpect adoptns gay fai, bee that ncerns a person who is not the people who ci, " he add.

Anti-gay bigots, and nservativ generally, ually misunrstand the ncept of eedom of exprsn to mean that they get to say any any wh impuny. "Here we have another example of homophobia, Italian style, " left-wg Italian polician and LGBT activist Alsandro Zan said, acrdg to the report. "Rich Ferraro, Vice Print of Communitns for GLAAD, told The Huffgton Post an emailed statement:"The sultg anti-gay ments will not only lead to LGBT people skippg Barilla favor of more clive brands like Bertolli, but their fay members, iends and -workers as well.