Does Clear Channel Have a Problem With Same-Sex Couples?

Clear Channel Outdoor bills itself as the global leader in outdoor advertising. Spot a billboard on the side of a highway? There's a pretty decent chance that Clear Channel is somehow connected to it. Spot an advertisement on top of a taxi cab? Yup, Clear Channel is there, too. And those fun glass covered signs at bus stops? Indeed, Clear Channel handles some of those, as well.

But in Clear Channel's Tampa Bay market, there are at least two ads you won't see on Clear Channel-owned billboards. These would be two ads that celebrate St. Petersburg Pride, scheduled to take place during the last week of June.

You might wonder whether the ads were provocative, or whether they had misleading or controversial information on them. Why else, of course, would these ads be banned?

But as you can see (in the picture above, and elsewhere here), there's absolutely nothing offensive behind these advertisements. As the Executive Director of St. Petersburg Pride said, the ads "do not contain anything that is sexual, immoral, illegal or otherwise offensive in nature." They really just depict two women or two men, talking about how their lives as same-sex couples are "fun" and "free."

Yet Clear Channel put the kibosh on these ads. Why?

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is trying to find out. They're out with a call for folks to email Clear Channel, and figure out why the company was uncomfortable with two family friendly billboards. Join their call here, and demand that Clear Channel explain why it refused to accept an advertisement from St. Petersburg Pride showcasing two committed same-sex couples.

This isn't the first time this year that Clear Channel has been in hot water with LGBT activists. Clear Channel's other faux pas came earlier this Spring, after Know Thy Neighbor and others found that Clear Channel was syndicating a talk radio host, Dawson McAllister, who was referring his callers to ex-gay organizations like Exodus International.

This drew a strong rebuke from gay rights activists, given that groups like Exodus have been deemed dangerous, and an affront to public health for their insistence that homosexuality can be treated and cured. Clear Channel responded to this situation by working with the Dawson McAllister Show to drop Exodus International from a list of recommended organizations and partners. (Sadly, Dawson McAllister still refers callers to Focus on the Family, another vehemently anti-gay organization that has fought against marriage equality and gay adoption, among other LGBT rights issues, in numerous states.)

Now it looks like Clear Channel is stepping into a mess again, by refusing two billboards that are harmless by any and all accounts. In refusing these two billboards from St. Petersburg Pride, a local Clear Channel official said, "As a matter of policy we don't discuss creative decisions about signage."

Well, as a matter of policy, Clear Channel should feel obligated to explain their decision to censor the depiction of two same-sex couples. If not because it looks like a homophobic corporate decision, then at least for their thousands of LGBT consumers, who listen to their radio stations, read their advertisements, and heck, even those LGBT folks who work for Clear Channel.

The company should come clean. Send them a note now urging them to disclose to St. Petersburg Pride, and all of us, why two same-sex couples aren't kosher for Florida billboards.

Photo credit: Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation