Subject: IWG USA Today boycott letter
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 00:00:16 -0400 (EDT)

The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 10 congregations and religious
organizations and 41 clergy from 14 faiths and denominations. If you are in 
the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious 
organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths 
are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in 
other areas.

June 19, 1997

USA Today
1000 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington,VA  22229

Dear Editors:

Douglas Cote's letter about the Southern Baptists'
boycott was interesting, but showed that he does not
understand the motivation of all those who object to
it.  Many of the religious institutions which support
the rights and uphold the dignity of sexual minorities
have themselves engaged in boycotts and civil
disobedience to promote racial equality, to improve
treatment for exploited laborers, or to protect
refugees, among other things.  Many congregations
continue to risk their relationships with their
denominations over sexual orientation issues.

Our objection is thus not to the act of boycotting,
but to the reasons behind it.  The boycott is
primarily in response to actions which we believe
(even if they were accidental or driven by a profit
motive) are inherently moral.  Mr. Cote is correct in
saying that belief in a moral system does not
automatically make a person intolerant, but the charge
of intolerance is reasonable when an organization
singles out a group for physical, legal, verbal, or
economic attack solely because they are engaged in
behavior, or hold beliefs, which do not fit the
attackers' moral code or belief system.  This boycott
is not an attack on Disney so much as an attempt to
deny health benefits and recognition to sexual
minorities by threatening any corporation that treats
them equally.

An act of defiance against a government, corporation
or religious institution for harming its citizens,
employees, or members is more tolerant and more moral
than a boycott against a corporation for simply
recognizing that not all of its customers or employees
think and act alike.

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

-- 

Interfaith Working Group                Religious organizations, congregations
[email-masked]                      and clergy supporting gay rights,
http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/         reproductive freedom, and the 
215-235-3050                            separation of church and state.