Marine Corps Petitioned To End Relationship With UFC Over Hate Speech, Homophobia
Written by Instinct Staff |
Thursday, 12 July 2012
The Marine Corps will be presented with 5,000 signatures from folks asking it to end its relationship with the UFC over the fighting championship's ongoing cultivation of homophobia. Details follow.
Unite Here, a Veterans union representing workers in a broad spectrum of industries, will present the petitions to Marine Corps stations throughout the country today.
The veteran activists also will voice their support for a bipartisan amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856) that would ban military spending on professional sports. The proposed ban – the “UFC Amendment” -- would prohibit the use of taxpayer money to sponsor the UFC and other pro sports organizations. The Marine Corps has spent more than $2 million sponsoring the UFC, the nation’s largest promoter of cage fighting events. The UFC is an organization that has tolerated people associated with it making jokes about rape, homophobic slurs and sexually explicit remarks that are demeaning towards women.
Taxpayer money should not be used to support homophobia, misogyny and hate speech, in any form. Through its sponsorship of the UFC, the Marine Corps has trivialized service to our country by juxtaposing images of Marines fighting for our country with the spectacle of cage fighting.
