Ford confirms pulling ads to appease anti-gay religious right bigots; company didn't want to advocate for the "gay agenda"

A trusted reader relays the following communication he had with a Ford public relations person yesterday:

I reached XXXX on his cell phone, xxx of Ford pr. We had a lengthy and civil, if tense, discussion. He clearly confirmed that Ford was pulling ads from "advocacy publications," which seems to cover every gay magazine and newspaper in the country since they "advocate" a "gay rights agenda." xxxxxxx said that this all started due to Ford ads in Europe, which apparently include some gay people/couples in a positive way. But he did confirm that Ford had indeed reached a formal settlement with AFA, and this specifically includes withdrawing advertising for certain Ford vehicles from LGBT publications/media. He tried to wiggle out of it by saying that (a) Ford had a good track record re the LGBT community, and (b) Jaguar and other divisions are "almost like separate companies."

My response was that (a) I was especially shocked and outraged that Ford had caved into the worst fringe of the fundamentalist right precisely because it has had a decent record, and (b) he can't get away with a disingenuous claim that because these are separate divisions Ford, corporate can't and shouldn't impose a corporation-wide policy to resist the witch-hunters and blacklisters who represent the most backward-looking, repressive and bigoted forces in American society.

Then there's this Ford told The Advocate magazine last week:

When first contacted, Ford spokesman Moran referred Advocate.com to the AFA statement, suggesting that the company had no disagreement with Wildmon's assertions.

And I spoke to a 3d journalist who was told the exact same thing by Ford, that this was very much a decision reached to appease the anti-gay bigots in the religious right.

So, Ford, please do tell us what part of this story we're getting wrong, which apparently is the message you're now giving people who contact you. Because, if we're "wrong" then you might want to inform your own spokesepeople how "wrong" they are for confirming your entire anti-gay decision.