What do you mean iSm?

According to TowleRoad, "The theme for the ad campaign is "Come As You Are" as the restaurant chain seeks to emphasize that their customers are free to be themselves." I thought it was pretty cool of McD's to show that. Can you imagine the fundie shïtstorm that would arise if that were shown in the US?

"McDonald's: Come as you are but stay closeted with your dad."

I see how one could interpret it that way, but that's not the message I got.

Gay KLM stewards want to avoid Iran
 

from Radio Netherlands WorldwideI completely sympathize with gay male flight attendants who don't want to spend time in Iran, but I also see the pickle this puts KLM in. If they allow female and gay male FAs to not take those shifts, what will they have left? I'm not suggesting KLM has no heterosexual male FAs, but I wonder if they have enough of them to maintain Iranian flights.

It seemed really sad to me. "McDonalds: You might never be able to tell your dad, but our restaurant booths would never judge you."

Sorry, SM, but I got the exact same message as Alex. A kid who's afraid to come out to his dad. Bad message.

What the frell does "come as you are" have to do with McDonald's? What, did they discriminate against gays in the past? Has anyone, anywhere on the world ever felt for a split second that they could not go into a freaking McDonald's? That message makes No Sense Whatsoever ... so I'm left with the actual events of the ad, which shows a gay boy who happens to be eating at McDonald's resisting yet another opportunity to come out of the closet to one of his parents.

Great stuff. Closeted gays make me so hungry for french fries. So, I repeat - WTF???

As for the Iranian issue, KLM should outright HALT fights to anyplace where it is a threat to the lives of their employees for them to spend a layover.

(though perhaps that's a poor choice of words when discussing gay flight attendants.)

Maybe, just maybe, they could stop flying to Iran. Every business decision does not have to be based on money.

On a side note, though, kudos to KLM for speaking in matter-of-fact terms about their gay employees.

Have there been any incidents of violence, intimidation, or other mistreatment of gay flight attendants in Iran or it is a more general fear knowing that homosexuality it criminalized (in which case Iran should not be unique).

I can understand from KLMs persepctive why making such exceptions is difficult. Maybe they can find a market solution. Put routes up for auction with the flight attenandants. The more who want a route the lower the pay for the route so the non-stop to St. Thomas is worked minimum wage but a premium is paid for Novosibirsk (and, presumably Tehran)

Heresy! Are you some kind of un-American communist?!