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McD's under pressure over mag withdrawal

Tue 15 Apr 2003 In: New Zealand Daily News View at NDHA

With the announcement of a gay protest outside their Auckland head office, fast food chain McDonalds is coming under more pressure following its refusal to sanction an issue of a teen magazine it sponsors. The most recent issue of tearaway looks at issues of homosexuality in a teenage/young adult setting. McDonalds is understood to have at first refused to allow the mag into any of its franchise outlets, then changed its mind to allow franchise holders to make individual decisions on whether to stock it. A spokesperson for Tearaway magazine says there is very little discussion of sex in the article, rather it concentrates on the emotional aspects of homosexuality. A check by GayNZ.com of a dozen outlets around the country showed that some were stocking it, but keeping it under the counter and producing it only on request. Gay MP Tim Barnett has called on McDonalds to “get real” and says it is “intolerable that McDonald's should feed the prejudice still faced by young lesbian and gay people.” Barnett has called on the company to restore support for the magazine and “to make some gesture of reconciliation to the communities which they have damaged." Meanwhile, a Kiss-In protest has been arranged for outside the company's central Auckland head office by a coalition of gay youth groups. The protest will start at noon and organisers hope as many GLBT people as possible will attend.    

Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff

First published: Tuesday, 15th April 2003 - 12:00pm

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