Company Declines Ads
by Gay Group
By AP from 11
Alive.com, no the Web, July 29, 2005
ATLANTA -- An outdoor
advertising company said Friday it refused to rent billboard space in South
Georgia to a gay and lesbian advocacy group because their sign didn’t meet
“community standards.
Lamar Outdoor Advertising’s South Georgia general manager, James Locke, said he
turned the group down because of the wording that would have been used on the
signs.
The group wanting to buy the space is Atlanta-based Georgia Equality.
“We just didn’t feel the copy was right for those markets,” Locke told Morris
News Service in a telephone interview. “These are the markets we do business in,
and I know the community standards of these markets.”
The proposed billboards featured images of professionals, such as a male
firefighter and a female doctor, and include tag lines that read, “I protect
you. And ... I am gay. We Are Your Neighbors.”
Similar messages are already being seen in eight counties throughout metro
Atlanta, but are displayed on billboards owned by a different company.
Chuck Bowen, executive director of Georgia Equality, expressed disappointment
over Lamar’s decision not to sell ad space to the organization in 38 South
Georgia counties that include the cities of Albany, Columbus, Douglas,
Homerville and Valdosta.
“Lamar’s decision is unacceptable and is further evidence of the hostility and
discrimination gays and lesbians face every day,” Bowen said.
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