In the United States, the Ford Motor Company has been criticized for advertising to gay customers for a couple years, with the anti-gay American "Family" Association organizing a boycott of the automaker. Earlier this year, Ford pulled its sponsorship of the GLAAD Media Awards, causing the AFA to declare success for their boycott. Ford, however, claimed that the move wasn't influenced by the AFA's complaints and later told the Advocate that they would continue to consider advertising in gay-oriented publications.

However, things look much brighter in Australia, where an ad featuring two same-sex couples has been running since the summer. The couples appear as part of a diverse tapestry of Ford Focus and Fiesta owners, with the tagline "Everyone's Journey is Different." So far, Ford hasn't faced a major backlash for acknowledging the existence of their gay customers in the ad.

A Ford spokesperson said that the ads aren't specifically gay-targeted, but seek to reach the wide variety of Australians interested in smaller cars like the Focus and Fiesta. Interest in smaller cars has grown in Australia (that's a trend I wish would make to the states) and this was a way for them to try to reach out to a variety of groups with a single campaign.

The Commercial Closet has the ad, so you can check it out for yourself. It's a well-designed ad that would certainly catch my attention if it appeared on my TV and a nice subtle way to pass an inclusive message to its customers.

We've written a little about Anthony Callea, the Australian Idol runner-up who came out this past March, but we haven't followed his career closely. Now thanks to RJ, we've got a little closer look at his current career for you.

Callea's been quite busy since coming out. Right now he's getting ready to perform in an opera, Dead Man Walking, based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean (which also inspired the Susan Sarandon/Sean Penn movie.) After that he's scheduled to take on the role of Mark in a Perth production of Rent. Wow, can you imagine any of American Idol's final two performing in an opera?

Callea was also the runner up in It Takes Two, which sounds like an Australian version of the Celebrity Duets show Fox aired last season. Callea and his partner, radio host Jo Stanley, placed second in the competition. They got that far performing of hits like "Shake Your Groove Thing", "S.O.S." and "Call Me."

Last week Brian blogged about the inadvertent outing of Anthony Callea, famous for his appearance on Australia's version of American Idol. In case you missed it, Callea was outed on a radio show when a traffic reporter referred to a school mate of his who is apparently Callea's partner.

Gareth just wrote to tell us the latest details which include Callea's refusal to comment on whether or not he's gay, a poll by an Aussie newspaper wherein readers don't give a cuddly koala if Callea is gay, and most interestingly, word that the woman who leaked the tape of the outing to the rest of the press has been sacked.

Her name is Alisson Longhurst and after initially being suspended for two days, she was finally sacked for her actions. I just read a number of press accounts of her firing and most seem rather sympathetic toward her which, frankly, baffles me. Hey, I think it's silly for this kid to be closeted, but that's his choice not mine or Alisson's and it sounds like the fellow who did out him did it purely by accident.

Perhaps being halfway around the world there is something I'm missing about the story, but if someone helps to out someone who doesn't want to be outed, then I think there is every reason to fire them. Unless you're Perez Hilton, of course, in which case you get to be famous. Perhaps an Aussie readers familiar with the story can explain why Miss Longhurst shouldn't have been sacked for what she did.