The American Family Association (AFA) has sent out an "action alert" to its members informing them that Ford's health care policy covers the medical expense of workers who undergo a sex change operation. Apparently, a full page Volvo ad in The Advocate's transgender issue got someone within Donald E. Wildmon's organization thinking about Ford's medical plans for employees suffering from gender dysmorphia. The AFA report claims "Ford offers medical benefits to help pay expenses of those who choose to undergo sex change operations. Ford pays for mental health counseling, hormone therapy, medical visits, and short-term disability after surgical procedures for employees who desire to change their sex." The AFA hopes the alert will help add adherents to their petition declaring its signatories' intention to "boycott Ford Motor Company automobiles until Ford stops supporting homosexual groups which are pushing homosexual marriage." The AFA claims the e-document has attracted 777,833 signatures. Given that the organization also claims its campaign has been the "driving force" behind Ford's dropping sales and Bill Ford's decision to step aside for CEO Alan Mulally, a grain (though not a column) of salt may be in order.
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
I really fail to see how it’s the AFA business what Ford’s health plan pays for. I’m in agreement with some of their positions but this one is a bit stretched ( pardon the pun )
Is this why you can’t get an Edge with a stick shift?
Their gripe should be with the insurance companies not Ford, but seeing as how insurance companies aren’t known for being generous with approving anything, I think they are just angry this procedure exists. I can’t believe that GM’s or Chrysler’s healthcare benefit coverage is any different than Fords.
Is this why you can’t get an Edge with a stick shift?
You could get a Probe with a stick, and an Escort too!.
wouldn’t it be nice if gays showed solidarity and purchased more Fords (assuming there were a Ford that they would be seen in)?
Imagine – double income, no kids – that’s a market with lots of disposable income.
Of course, the Subaru brand might take a big hit if that happened.
It’s the political reality of today – if they’re liberal they try to mess with your money, if they’re conservative they tell you how to live your personal life. Both can go to hell.
I could care less what benefits Ford gives its workers as long as they’re competitive. Although, given Ford’s past practices of fiscally insane gold-plated benefit packages, I’m hardly confident this was an logical, actuarial sound decision.
Carguy: Great comment—could not agree more—there are many of us out there that think the same way. The poltical polarization in this country sucks—-and it will continue to have implications for those of us who enjoy all things automotive.
IMHO I believe the AFA and other anti-gay religious groups actually help gays, lesbians and transgendered people more by highlighting the cause. Demonstrating the insanity, bigotry and hatred surrounding this issue reveals who the real monsters are.
Hate mongering and religious zealotry have done more to destroy faith and push people away. It’s a turn off to buy products that should incite lust and jealousy but instead reinforce pious restraint…
…but that’s what Ford is building these days anyway.
Of all the problems facing Ford,I’ll betcha this issue is really low on Mullallys”things to fix”list.
No… you’re wrong. That 17% drop in sales during Q3? That was ALL the boycott. Avis stopped buying rental vehicles from Ford because of the boycott – not the other way. It’s the boycott that is driving consumers away – not the aging line-up being bombarded by steep discounts from Japanese automakers, high oil prices and a declining housing market.
Oh wait… yeah, you’re right. It has nothing to do with the boycott.
The thing with the AFA is that if they really wanted to take down a company and prove their point, they would target Toyota (whose non-discrimination policy, ad targets and partner benefits are very similar) and prove that they can take down a thriving organization because of this issue.
However, the AFA is spineless. Read that again: spineless, weak, pathetic. They would NEVER attack a healthy company, because they know they would lose. Instead, you jump on a weak company and take credit for its failures. It makes me sick – and makes me revile the AFA even more than I do because of their stances on various subjects.
Ford was targeted because they were the most outspoken supporter of the entire homosexual agenda, not only inside the company, but in their financial support for political and cultural activities of such agendas. Try working at Ford when it is going down the tubes, and you have to spend all your time listening to that crap being shoved down your throat.
Ford is like a lot of big American corporations – very liberal socially, as that is the hip way to be among their cocktail party circle. Meanwhile they are getting their butt kicked because politics comes before making good hiring and product decisions. Ford is one messed up company.
AFA is not an organization I’d join, but I have to side with them on this issue.
“The Homosexual Agenda?” Asking to be treated with dignity? Given full civil rights? Gosh, what a burden that is for the rest of us to bear.
I just think that paying for this kind of stuff is bad business. It’s like paying for nose or boob jobs.
There have been other cases where the social views/issues of a car company’s leadership or of the country in which that company is based have boiled up into how the public perceives them, even if boycotts are not always the result. After all there are stories of Henry Ford’s ties with the Third Reich in the 1930s, or more recently the sexual harassment cases in Mitsubishi USA’s facilities. Do Asian carmakers in general have policies about their female employees that mirror those societies, and do we have a problem with that? Or the way VW and other German companies employed Turkish ‘gastarbeiter’ in their factories, but pretty much shut them out of German citizenship? So in some ways, this is nothing new even if the details seem distinctly characteristic of American ‘culture’ wars.
My guess also is that this particular dispute would be a non-issue in European and other countries where universal health care exists–anybody from that side of the Atlantic care to comment?
Change “Family” to “Paranoid Busybody.”
cynder: “IMHO I believe the AFA and other anti-gay religious groups actually help gays, lesbians and transgendered people more by highlighting the cause. Demonstrating the insanity, bigotry and hatred surrounding this issue reveals who the real monsters are.”
Good point. My interaction with gays has been very limited, so if it weren’t for the publicity, I might very well fall into the trap of fear-of-the-unknown-begets-hate. With these “Christian” toolboxes being such jerks, I tend to side more with gays where otherwise I might be purely indifferent.
Well, there’s that and the also the few gays i knew were very funny and awesome at karaoke, and i like to be entertained. as long as it isn’t my girlfriend or a drugged-up NICKNICK, i don’t care what goes on in your bedroom.
If a company offers comprehensive benefits, the company attracts talented workers. Talented workers will create better products, better products will produce more profit for the company. Or so the theory goes.
Ford can offer it, but how many transgendered folks work at Ford? Of those folks, how many will go for the surgery? If they do, how much does such a surgery cost? It might be a drop in the bucket (paid by insurance), but its nice to offer as a perk as it makes Ford look like a great corporate citizen.
The AFA are crazy. Or have deep seated and repressed homosexual tendencies. Self hate is such a great way to start a movement.
Who cares? I’m sure the Ford’s employee gender-bender benefits rank right there around their coffee benefits when it comes to customers making a car purchasing decision.
Comes as no surprise to me that the AFA closet-cases are scouring TM mags…maybe I could sell them my huge stash of “Chicks with Dicks.”
I really want to buy a Ford now.
TexasAg03:
I just think that paying for this kind of stuff is bad business. It’s like paying for nose or boob jobs.
Yup. Here in the People’s Republic of NY, there are local governments and school districts that have had cosmetic surgery added to their union negotiated benefit packages instead of raises. (Don’t ask me why… I guess actuarially they thought it would cost less).
And while I hate to be insensitive, HR types will tell you (after a few drinks) that there are certain types of people who use a lot of this type of surgery. And they may not be the most stable/productive people to work with.
bill h
My guess also is that this particular dispute would be a non-issue in European and other countries where universal health care exists–anybody from that side of the Atlantic care to comment?
I can’t speak for the Euros, but ‘necessary’ cosmetic surgery has some waiting issues in Canada.
Hmm… I wonder what the company policy is on toilet usage? I’d like to see that in print: “The employee who returns to work after gender-change surgery is required to use the “gender appropriate” rest room, or be subject to disciplinary action.”
hoo boy…
What I really like about this story is the fact that the corporate types are getting the attacks from both sides.
I hope this will mean that they stop caving in to demands of the boycott groups and adopt policies that thwart them. Personally, I side with Carguy, and I think the large amount of money collected by Ron Paul shows we are not alone. We just want to be left alone.
Why do these groups exist ? I for one don’t care who sleeps/does what with who, provided they are consenting adults. What motivates someone to care what goes on in someone else’s bedroom ?
Back to cars, please.
A late response from a reader in universal health care land.
Here in Germany, you get free treatment for various ailments if they are not purely cosmetic. Meaning:
Botox: no. Reduction of too-heavy breasts which give you back pains: yes. Sex-change operations if there is substantial indication of psychological hardship: yes. Tummy tucks: no.