Wal-Mart selling 'Brokeback' DVD despite anti-gay protest
Last Updated: Thursday, April 6, 2006 | 11:20 AM ET
CBC Arts
Retail giant Wal-Mart proceeded to sell DVD copies of Brokeback Mountain this week, despite protests from a religious group opposing the award-winning cowboy romance.
Recently, the Mississippi-based Christian advocacy group American Family Association began pressuring Wal-Mart not to carry the Ang Lee-directed film in its more than 3,500 stores across the U.S.
The group accused the discount retailer of abandoning its "family-friendly" reputation by selling DVDs of the film, a groundbreaking story about two male ranch hands and their longtime, secretive love affair.
Actors Heath Ledger (left) and Jake Gyllenhaal in Ang Lee's 'Brokeback Mountain.' Wal-Mart is selling the DVD, despite protests from anti-gay religious group American Family Association.
(Photo: Kimberly French/Courtesy Odeon Films)
In a statement on its website, the anti-gay group urged "concerned Christians" to visit their local Wal-Mart locations and share their displeasure "over the chain's decision to promote and carry the pro-homosexual movie."
The association previously campaigned against Wal-Mart for carrying certain men's magazines it deemed "indecent" and regularly mounts campaigns against other U.S. retailers, businesses and companies.
The AFA upheld a nine-year boycott of Walt Disney Co. for "straying from the vision" of founder Walt Disney by releasing edgy films such as Kids through its Miramax subsidiary and granting benefits to the common-law spouses of homosexual employees at its theme parks.
Last month, the group condemned car company Ford for advertising in gay publications. It has also attacked the content of TV shows Desperate Housewives and SpongeBob SquarePants, as well as sexy advertisements from fashion house Calvin Klein.
Wal-Mart spokesperson Gail Lavielle defended the chain's sale of Brokeback Mountain as a simple business decision and not a means to advocate a social agenda.
"The only thing we take into consideration when we decide to sell something is whether we think there's demand among our customers," Lavielle told Reuters. "We're a retailer. We want to sell things our customers will buy."
The Brokeback Mountain DVD hit stores in Canada and the U.S. Tuesday. According to Universal Studios Home Entertainment, about 1.4 million DVD copies were sold on the first day.
