WASHINGTON, D.C. – LGBT organizations Courage Campaign, GLAAD and Equality Matters have joined Media Matters’ Drop Fox campaign in asking Orbitz to cease sponsoring Fox News due to Fox’s long history of anti-LGBT bigotry.
The campaign says that a number of Fox presenters and guests, such as Bill O’Reilly and Governor Mike Huckabee, promote “misinformation, smears and flat-out lies” against the LGBT community. Huckabee has compared homosexuality to incest and pedophilia, while O’Reilly has commented that gay people should not be allowed near children.
A spokeswoman for Orbitz told The Advocate, “Our advertising, which integrates inclusive messaging reflective of our diverse audience, will continue to respect and serve the needs of all travelers no matter their politics, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender.”
The group has written an open letter to Orbitz International Chief Executive Barney Harford asking him to reconsider his company’s use of Fox as an advertising platform. The letter reads, “Your gay-specific travel site has been warmly received in the gay community, has resulted in higher quality service for the LGBT community and has achieved an increase in growth for Orbitz. Additionally, in the last few years, leading LGBT organizations Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD have recognized the great work that Orbitz has done in partnering with and catering to the LGBT community.
“In that same time period, Fox News demonstrated an indefensible bias in its coverage of core issues for the LGBT community. An analysis of coverage on everything from gay marriage to the repeal of DADT to gay individuals supports a conclusion that Fox’s coverage is driven by a political agenda and cannot be considered an objective news source.”
The letter concludes with a request for Harford to rethink his support of Fox.
