A local company is refusing to print materials for Atlanta's gay-owned Carma Productions citing its "Moral Objection Policy" that includes a rule to reject "homosexual materials."

Thomas Ryan, CFO and publisher of Carma Productions, which produces among other items the Gay Community Yellow Pages, sent an email to Fatina Malik of Media Graphix based in Norcross on Oct. 31 expressing his "shock" that the company declined to estimate a cost for printing between 2,500-5,000 copies of a media kit for the Gay Community Yellow Pages. According to Ryan, Media Graphix printed a similar project for Carma Productions in 2010.

Malik stated in an Oct. 31 email to Heidi Reis, executive vice president of Carma Productions, that  Media Graphix would have to decline estimating the cost of printing the media kit for the GCYP in response to a request sent by Reis on Oct. 28. The request from Reis asked for a price of the job and asked for it to be finished by Nov. 2.

"Thank you for your interest in Media Graphix. We will have to decline quoting this job because it conflicts with our Moral Objection Policy. Please see the attached. I'm sorry for any inconvenience. Thanks!" Malik responded Oct. 31 in an email to Reis.

A woman who answered the phone this evening at Media Graphix said Malik was unavailable for comment because she was in a conference with other company officials discussing the email exchange with Carma Productions.

The "Moral Objection Policy" cited by Media Graphix states, among other things, to reject projects that "promote or advertise homosexuality such as Gay Pride."

The policy further states, "Media Graphix is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against hiring regardless of sex, age, religion, or sexual orientation. Homosexual owners of legitimate businesses are welcome and not to be discriminated against."

Ryan of Carma Productions, however, questioned the policy, stating Media Graphix has printed materials for the gay-owned company in the past.

While we fully understand organizations are entitled to create a 'Moral Objection Policy', we would expect such organizations to operate with a sense of integrity and honesty.  The 'Moral Objection Policy' you enclosed for our review specifically states the effective date as February 13, 2002. However, you have printed projects for us in the past. To be more specific, you printed the exact same project included in our most recent bid in March 2010.

I'm just a little confused as to why you would accept the exact same file in March 2010, process our debit card for payment on March 31, 2010, and deliver the product to our office only to turn around now and refuse to bid our project and cite a 'Moral Objection Policy' that you claim has been in effect for almost a decade?  Where was the objection to our morality in 2010?

Ryan further states in the email:

Furthermore, our business does not "promote or advertise homosexuality". We are simply a reference resource guide dedicated to the equal treatment of the LGBTQ community.  The owners of our company have been fighting for equal human rights for the last twenty-three years and consider ourselves to be a "legitimate business". Your business practices, while completely your right, are the exact reason why we have our directory and Smartphone applications.

We will most certainly remove your organization from our list of vendors and notify as many members of our community to not patron your organization under any circumstances. Despite your "Moral Objection Policy", by accepting a job once and then declining the same job less than two years later based on a policy you claim to have had for the last decade, you have proven to be one of the most immoral organizations I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

The news of Media Graphix's "Moral Objection Policy" comes days after Shorter University made headlines for mandating its employees sign a "personal lifestyle statement" that includes stating they are not gay or face being fired.

Media Graphix also states in its Moral Objection Policy that it will not print materials for:

•"strip joints" or other materials used for erotic purposes that includes nudity or pornography, with the exception of some medical materials;

• alcohol, drugs, tobacco and pork, including companies such as Honey Baked Ham, Marlboro and Budweiser;

• abortion and abortion clinics "must be avoided totally";

• anti-religious, satanic or materials that promote racism;

• gambling, including materials for casinos and the lottery'

• "harm — any piece that may promote harming of fellow humans or the destruction of  environment or be the cause of war and bloodshed."