Christian Right Group Calls for Movie Gallery Boycott

The American Family Association is pushing a nationwide boycott of Movie Gallery in an effort to stop the video rental chain from offering hardcore porn.

"Behind the public image, Movie Gallery makes millions of dollars from videos of despicable sex acts… AFA has documented the atrocities endured by employees and managers, plus stories by parents of children who have been exposed to hard-core porn in Movie Gallery stores," the right-wing Christian organization stated in a press release.

A link on AFA's website to the litany of employee "atrocities" complains of deviant customers renting adult movies. Tellingly, the anonymous statement reads in part: "Then there are the gays… It is the ultimate putdown for a lesbian to come on to you in public. You just want to crawl into the floor and disappear."

Led by family-values fanatic Donald Wildmon, AFA has been attacking the video store chain for several years. When Movie Gallery announced its acquisition of Hollywood Video, Wildmon's group took out a full-page ad in USA Today alerting readers that "your family's next trip for a video could become an introduction to the world of hardcore pornography." AFA also organized a protest rally at Movie Gallery's headquarters in Dothan, Alabama.

The latest missive from AFA alleges that Movie Gallery displays porn next to children's videos, a claim that a Movie Gallery spokesman firmly denied to AVN.com. In another erroneous statement, AFA asserted that "[m]any base Movie Gallery's financial empire on the fact that they charge up to $5.00 for sex videos, allowing them to rent regular movies for as little as 99 cents."

Porn makes up about five percent of Movie Gallery's business, a company rep told AVN.com.