Ellen DeGeneres' JC Penney Partnership Boycott Dropped By One Million Moms

Anti-Gay Group Drops Boycott Of Ellen's JCPenney Partnership

It seems One Million Moms didn't feel that strongly about Ellen DeGeneres' JCPenney partnership after all.

Monica Cole, director of the "pro-family advocacy" group which threatened a JCPenney boycott after the retail chain appointed DeGeneres as its spokesperson, now tells OneNewsNow that members are backing down and have decided to move on to other issues. Still, she notes, "We have heard back from men and women -- not just moms -- saying they will no longer shop there at JC Penney, as long as Ellen DeGeneres is their spokesperson."

Early last month, One Million Moms, a division of the American Family Association, called for DeGeneres to be replaced by the Texas-based chain because she is a lesbian.

"Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families," the group wrote on its website at the time. "DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there. The small percentage of customers they are attempting to satisfy will not offset their loss in sales."

On the contrary, as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) notes, the ensuing controversy "ignited a national conversation about anti-LGBT employment discrimination, drawing significant attention to the fact that in 29 states a person can be fired simply because they’re gay, while in 34 states a person can be fired simply for being transgender." Nearly 50,000 advocates and allies joined GLAAD in the fight, officials report on GLAAD's website.

Meanwhile, support of a Facebook group called "1 Million People Who Support Ellen for JC Penney" quickly surpassed that of One Million Moms.

DeGeneres addressed the organization's plea on her talk show. "I usually don't talk about stuff like this on my show, but I really want to thank everyone who is supporting me," she said. "Here are the values I stand for: I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you'd want to be treated and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values. That's what I stand for."

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Ellen DeGeneres' JCPenney Commercials 2012(CLONED)

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