Today a CBS spokesman informed representatives of the gay dating site mancrunch.com that their Super Bowl ad space is sold out and therefore they will not be able to air the gay dating sites’ 30-second $2.5M ad.

CORRECTION/UPDATE: Per CBS spokeswoman Shannon Jacobs

“After reviewing the ad, which is entirely commercial in nature, our standards and practices department decided not to accept this particular spot,” CBS spokeswoman Shannon Jacobs told CNN. “We are always open to working with a client on alternative submissions.”

CBS has every right to broadcast whatever they see as fit for their audience. Is it right? No it’s business.

However, each company also must deal with the consequences of their actions; gay groups and supporters have every right to voice their opinion and vote with their wallet, or in this case their eyeballs. I see this as comparable to when the Dixie Chicks voiced their disapproval of George Bush while on tour overseas; they have the right to express whatever opinion they want to, but don’t act like a victim when the consequences of your actions roll around.

Another thing to consider is that CBS rejects ads based on several arbitrary factors so I wouldn’t be too quick to judge until we get the full story. However, it does strike me as odd that CBS also rejected the United Church of Christ ad promoting a more liberal view of an all accepting god/church while choosing to air the Tim Tebow Fuckus on the Family anti-abortion ad.

We will never know the full story on this one but it does appear that CBS ‘has sum splaining to do’ and the gay and pro-life communities are free to react however they feel is necessary. That’s what makes our country great, this isn’t Iran.

As far as mancrunch.com is concerned I feel somewhat skeptical about letting this little known website — as is ours — be the torch bearer for our rights. IMHO they knew the rejection of this ad would garner lots of press attention and traffic.

To me it would be a totally different story if CBS rejected an ad for say moveon.org, oh wait a minute they already have. CBS you really do have some splaining to do on the arbitrary nature of your selection process.

I understand most straight men are OK with gays as long as we are not all up in their grill about it, so I see this as a glass half-full publicity stunt/’controversy’. Could you imagine any gay business even considering buying ad time just ten years ago? Hells No!

So is this ad for real or is this website in it just for the publicity? Who knows, but I do know this; we have come a long way just to get to this point.