Who’s behind the hard left turn American culture has taken, particularly if you go by what can be seen on TV and in commercials? Well, numerous forces, personalities, and groups. But one of the original main players was Gregory T. Angelo, President of the “New Tolerance Campaign” and former president of the gay conservative group Log Cabin Republicans.
He appeared on Fox & Friends First to say that he helped companies go woke decades ago and now regrets it, as it has created new problems for America. Speaking about how he’s partially responsible for the wokeness of corporations, he said:
“There was a precedent that was set as a result of gay advocates successfully convincing major corporations to weigh in on issues related to same-sex marriage, to LGBT nondiscrimination legislation. As a result, not only did these CEOs feel emboldened, but they thought the public was on their side and the public would react in the same way to the support that they got for things like same-sex marriage.”
Continuing on that point and getting to how he’s responsible, he said, “I was one person of many at a time where gay advocates were working with major corporations, senior executives leaning on them to weigh in in support of things like same-sex marriage, in support of legislation that would make it illegal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation. Those were all pieces of legislation and policies that I supported.”
He noted next that the issue about which he lobbied turned companies and CEOs woke, saying, “But looking back 10 years ago and what has transpired since, I see that if gay issues were not the flashpoint, the inflection point that actually made CEOs comfortable with the idea of weighing in on contentious social issues, it was most definitely the prime accelerant… There was precedent that was set, a precedent that has now led major corporations to weigh in on everything from abortion to Black Lives Matter to so-called voting rights bills.”
That has, he next noted, created a situation where the public wants CEOs to just keep quiet, but they feel a duty to speak in support of contentious social issues, saying, “There’s basically been an insulation that you’ve seen happen among CEOs where even though… the overwhelming majority of the public, 63%, according to the most recent Wall Street Journal poll, do not want CEOs weighing in on contentious cultural issues. Sixty-three percent of CEOs feel it is their duty and obligation to do so.”
He then added that CEOs should run for office if they want to get into politics, saying, “If you want to get involved in politics, fine. Run for office. If you want to run a company, focus on the bottom line. That seems to be the message that more and more CEOs are waking up to because more and more Americans are getting that message to them.”
And how can we get out of such a situation where woke CEOs and their companies are constantly pushing cultural subversion? He remained hopeful that “the same kind of grassroots pressure that got us into this current cultural quagmire, can get us out of it and can do it at a very rapid rate.”
An example could be Bud Light, about which he said, “The fact that we have seen Bud Lights stock fall so quickly, the fact that Bud Light has not posted on social media in almost 14 days, ever since this controversy erupted, shows that Bud Light has had their heels cooled on this issue.“
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