Sign Of The Times?

Or just another marketing ploy?

Visit any Ikea on a Sunday morning and you are bound to find a number of gay or lesbian couples doing their round of the sofas and kitchen cabinets. I am certainly not averse to spending a couple of hours looking at the marketplace for all sorts of cheap crockery. So it does make sense for Ikea to be progressive in its advertising.

Their most recent catalogue, however, is called Family Life, and one of the 12 families featured under the banner ‘Family life is changing... Welcome to the new era’ is a gay couple called Ian and Steve. Apparently this incensed the Polish catholics so much they wanted it removed.

Here is the gist of their argument as reported in the Ikea Blog:

"The promotion of homosexual unions adversely affects the institutions of the family, motherhood or fatherhood that are so important for the public." The letter tells the company that the erosion of the value of natural marriage, "which in accordance with the law is a union between a man and a woman," is unacceptable, "especially at a time in which the family is in crisis," particularly with the births of fewer and fewer children. The letter warns IKEA that the drop in the birth rate will affect the company’s future business in Poland.

Once again, yes, the 'family' is in crisis, but how will keeping gays in the closet actually help the 'family' exactly? Sigh. And doesn't Poland have more to worry about than something like this?

Ikea's response?

"Homosexuality is one of the essential elements of living in contemporary society."

Thankfully, some sanity!