Hallmark enters the market for gay marriage cards, and the Rev. Donnie Wildmon goes bonkers -- plus a pair of neat ideas (not mine!) for saying "OK!"

by Ken

In case you haven't heard, lets review two all-too-closely-related developments:

(1) With the coming of legal same-sex marriage to California, the Hallmark greeting-cards people have added a new category to their lineup: what else but cards for same-sex marriages? This is a matter not just of good sense but (one hopes) of good business. I hope they put out some swell cards and make a mint on them.

Naturally, within the blink of an eyelash of (1) --

(2) In much the same way that a lovely picnic inevitably draws pests, your everyday flies and ants, Hallmark's new initiative has brought some of the crazies out of the woodwork. Would you believe the Rev. Donald Wildmon of the inaptly named American Family Association is up in arms calling for no less than a boycott of Hallmark? If by now you can't imagine for yourself the drivel they're spewing, you just haven't been paying attention. (Here's a report by Amanda at Think Progress.)

Somehow I don't think the Hallmark folks are shaking in their boots. They're not going to lose much if any business to the yammerings of the panic-stricken crazies -- panic-stricken because they realize that the world is passing them by, that, increasingly, folks just don't care if other folks are gay as long as they're good folks, it's just none of our beeswax. The rise of this live-and-let-live attitude drives the die-hard holdouts like the Reverend Donnie nuts.

Here's hoping the Hallmark folks add a nice chunk of change to their bottom line with their new offerings.


WANT TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT?

My colleague John Klenert came up with a brilliant idea, or actually two brilliant ideas.

* To show support for Hallmark, send them a Hallmark "thank you" card!

* And to show your feelings to the American Family Association, send them a Hallmark gay marriage card!

John points out that Hallmark "is still family owned, and they also own, among other things, Crayola Crayons." Now I didn't know that! This suggests that if you really want to be thorough, you should buy a box of Crayolas -- authentic Crayolas, no cheap imitations -- and use them to inscribe your cards and address the envelopes.

John has even dug up the addresses for us:

HALLMARK

Donald J. Hall, Chairman
HALLMARK CARDS INC.
2501 McGee Trafficway
Kansas City, MO 64108

(I plan to make sure to voice my thanks to all the folks at Hallmark.)

AFA

Donald Wildmon
AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION
Post Office Drawer 2440
Tupelo, MS 38803

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