I'm too tired to be very verbose tonight. Here's a good resource from the Human Rights Campaign ....
Buying a cup of coffee? Filling up your gas tank?
Booking a flight for that dream vacation?
Every day, you make decisions about whom to support in corporate America. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation?s Buying for Equality can help you easily support companies that support equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans.
Ratings in Buying for Equality are based on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation?s annual report card, the Corporate Equality Index. A record 138 companies scored 100 percent on this year?s report, which is a significant increase from the 101 companies that earned a perfect score last year. Every day, from enhanced domestic partner benefits to transgender inclusion in non-discrimination policies, we are seeing a revolution in the American workplace.
Last year, more than 250,000 people used Buying for Equality to make informed choices about their purchases. This year, you can do your part to support fair-minded businesses by requesting or downloadingBuying for Equality 2007.
A landscaping business owned by Christian conservatives is under fire (and some praise) for refusing to work for homosexuals. Garden Guy owner Sabrina Farber sent an email to Michael Lord and Gary Lackey explaining her reasons for not submitting a bid. Lord and Lackey forward to friends, urging them to avoid doing business with a company that practices homophobia.
The world has responded. The Garden Guy website was beseiged with idiots threatening the owner's family, but also with people praising their stance. One professional landscaping association has adopted a non-discrimination policy.
"It was just our intent to uphold our rights as small-business owners to choose our clientele," she said. "All the hate, the threats of sodomizing my children, the threats of me being murdered, came out because of a very businesslike straightforward e-mail I sent. The crowd of tolerance and diversity is not so tolerant."
See I hate comments like that. Since when is being tolerant the provence of any one particular crowd? Conservative Christians are quick to throw down the T card when it comes to anyone even slightly restricting their rights to be a xtian as they want, so its bogus for Farber to hide behind that one. And her "crowd" were the ones sending death threats to the Dixie Chicks' families. No one in my circle of liberal friends (or conservative friends) would condone threatening a family or wishing harm on children.
But Mrs. Farber said she and her husband also had gotten hundreds of calls and messages offering encouragement and had been touched by that. "We just cried. We have been through so much," Mr. Farber said. "We become accidental crusaders for Christ."
Yes, Mrs. Farber -- Jesus and the City of Houston are proud of your bigotry and give you free reign to be as discriminatory as you want. You go girl!
A Philadelphia man has filed a formal complaint alleging that he was fired after complaining about a "pervasive anti-gay" environment at the Toyota dealership where he was employed.
The ex-employee, Patrick Johnston of Philadelphia, said the work environment at Champion, on Castor Avenue near Cottman, was one in which anti-gay slurs were routine and tolerated.
"Salespeople regularly used slurs like 'faggots' and 'fudgepackers' to refer to gay people," said Johnston, who is gay.
"Even gay customers - who were making these people a substantial commission - were called 'fairies' and 'faggots' behind their backs," he said.
Johnston first complained internally about the pervasive nature of the gay bashing, but was told that it was the nature of the business (365gay.com).
"It is shocking and disappointing that this type of anti-gay bigotry was so widespread at Sloane Automotive Group,? said Johnson's attorney Katie Eyer, of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights.
"What is particularly disturbing is that Mr. Johnston was terminated when he complained about Sloane?s response. Retaliatory action of that kind sends a clear message to other employees ? don?t complain if you value your job. This type of conduct is precisely the type of employer behavior that the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance is designed to prevent."
Toyota received a perfect score on the 2005 HRC Corporate Equality Index. Here's their response to that ranking:
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. Jim Press, President and Chief Operating Officer, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
?Toyota Motor Sales is honored to be recognized by the Human Rights Campaign with a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index. Diversity provides Toyota with a competitive advantage; understanding, embracing and leveraging our differences enables us to achieve our business goals. At Toyota, we acknowledge and support the diversity of sexual orientation and gender expression. Toyota recognizes its responsibility to both its employees and customers, and considers Diversity and Inclusion an integral part of every aspect of the business.?
How is this consistent with a pervasive homophobic environment Champion Toyota's management allegedly described? Sadly for the Correspondents, the parent sales company also owns a Honda dealership. What's a dyke to drive?
Just goes to show -- we may be a market, but equality is a long way down the road.
Even Diana Irey, his Republican challenger, acknowledged in an interview last week that she's facing "an uphill battle."
But Ms. Irey added: "The war issue has made people raise an eyebrow ... and given us an opportunity to tell people who he really is." She mentions Mr. Murtha's opposition to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage: "Jack Murtha acts more like he's representing liberal San Francisco than conservative southwestern Pennsylvania."
Diana, honey, both my eyebrows are raised in skeptical disbelief that you actually spew this ridiculous crap in front of people with notepads and cameras. Its so very predictable to trot out the tired old gay-by-association references. And very sad that you attempt to counter Murtha's pragmatic stance on the war with the old homo thrust and parry.
Check out Chris Matthew's smackdown of Irey here ....
Dee Sias, owner of local independent video store Heads Together, wrote to the Post-Gazette to share the store's secret to small business success in the face of competitor's like Blockbuster and Netflix -- they carry movies people want to see. Including (gasp!) gay movies.
I would like people to know that my store does very well -- considering the bills I have to pay -- and the reason is that I carry what other stores do not, what Netflix cannot provide, what is not available on cable and what Blockbuster refused to carry.
I have an extremely loyal customer base of individuals looking for independent, foreign, cult and gay movies. I believe we succeed where others do not because we are knowledgeable and passionate about movies, familiar with our customers and love to talk about and recommend movies.
Sias is responding to a PG article questioning the uncertain future of independent video stores. Sias points out that Heads Together thrives while two other Squirrel Hill stores have closed their doors, including a Blockbuster.
I used to belong to Netflix, but I don't rent movies often enough to justify it. Oh sure, I had noble intentions --- renting movies, cuddling on the sofa, staying in touch with pop culture, etc. Then life got in the way --- newspapers and books to be read, friends to engage in conversations, blog posts to write, even the occasional television program. There was too much real life happening to watch the movie edition. Sigh.
Now we'll be toddling off to Heads Together to check out their selection.
Dee -- good for you for writing in to defend the small entrepreneur as well as those of us who aren't irreversibly cocooned in corporate webs.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. doesn't see it that way. Since 1999, the Columbus, Ohio-based company has offered its 35,000 employees benefits for same-sex partners, as well as for aging parents, adult children and roommates.
"As the traditional household has changed, we decided to let our associates define family," spokesman Eric Hardgrove said.
When Ohio voters amended the state's constitution in 2004 to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, Nationwide Mutual didn't change its policy.
Mr. Hardgrove said the benefits plan "goes along with our commitment to building a workplace that fosters respect, is inclusive and nondiscriminatory."
With the release of HRC's State of the Workplace, evidence is mounting that the economy is becoming more gay friendly despite the desperate scrambling on the social-cultural front. A fair and inclusive workplace is paramount to attracting talented employees.
I like that Nationwide covers aging parents, adult children and roommates. That is a heartening trend. Several of my friends and acquaintances are caring for their parents, finding the struggle to provide health care often overwhelming. A few are single parents and grandma/grandpa has joined the household to help with raising the children. Yet another example of the modern "classic" family.
* 51% of Fortune 500 companies offer domestic partner benefits
* 86% include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies
* 81% include gender identity in their non-discrimination policies
Obviously, corporate America recognizes that a LGBT friendly workplace is good business.
This does not bode well for Pennsylvania given our legislative obsession for ramping up anti-gay initiatives. How will we attract the companies so necessary to create jobs for PA families if we are creating a hostile environment? It would be interesting to see the Democrats suddenly become the champions of economic development by creating an environment conducive to attracting private investment. Not gonna happen anytime soon while so many Dems are cowering in fear for losing their seats for even consorting with homosexuals.
I caught this on PageOneQ this morning about the increase in lbgt specific marketing from corporate America.
Last year marked the first time that advertising with gay-specific content comprised more than half of all ads in the U.S. gay and lesbian press, according to an annual report by Rivendell and New York's Prime Access Inc. that reviews 151 individual gay and lesbian titles. Only three years before, gay-specific content comprised just 9.9 percent of all ads in gay and lesbian publications.
Gay-specific content means the ad includes something very gay, like same sex couple walking toward their high-end car rather than just the car itself.
The article goes on, however, to explore the next "walk the walk, talk the talk" issue -- are these companies who want our $$ offering domestic partnership benefits, including sexual orientation and gender identity in their non-discrim clauses and sponsoring LGBT events much like they sponsor hetero events?
So we are in the midst of a watershed moment in LGBT history ... our government is working overtime to restrict our civil liberties while coporate America is desperate for our consumer dollars. So what I ask is whether the mighty whites in charge of these companies are making campaign contributions to the very people elected officials who are deadset on driving us into reeducation camps?
Let's take a look at the Red/Blue spectrum of the corporate sponsors of San Francisco's PrideFest as listed in this article ... courtesy of Buy Blue.org
Bud Light 64% of political contributions went to Republicans, 36% to Democrats
Delta Airlines 57% Republicans, 43% Democrats
Travelocity no data
Comcast 47% Republican, 53% Democrats
Wells Fargo 42% Republican, 58% Democrats
Toyota no contributions
Bank of America 61% Republican, 39% Democrats
MasterCard no contributions
Diet Pepsi 68% Republican, 32 % Democrats
Showtime no data
The answer is yes. To some degree all of the companies who make contributions are supporting the Pro-Corporate American party that wants to kick us to the curb. But that's just business?
My point is that as we become an increasingly consumerized demographic, we have to keep our eyes on the larger prize and refuse to allow them to merely pander to us. Its easy to be seduced by the fact that say Bank of America sponsors your PrideFest to justify our consumer decisions. But look at Coors Brewing -- they hired a LGBT outreach person ... Mary Cheney. All the while their founder was running on a very right wing Republican platform. Should we really buy their beer when they are so obviously pandering to us?
These companies can have their cake and eat it too. The desperate little boycott of Ford led by the American Family Association is having no impact whatsoever according to industry ananlysts who can trace Ford's declining sales to other more significant factors. In fact, Ford recently sponsored the GLAAD Media Awards. Their response to the boycott has been to increase their advertising in Christian oriented magazines --- the AFA isn't having any of that, but I bet all the sheep reading the magazines don't realize it.
Does anyone know if Giant Eagle offers domestic partner benefits?
Our homo-bigot friends at the American Family Association have taken their gay hate campaign up a notch by setting up a website dedicated to boycotting Ford. Because Ford hates freedom and is out to destroy the fabric of American families by selling cars to homosexuals.
According to the New York Times, advertising in gay media has been on the rise. Rivendell Media, an advertising representative for gay and lesbian media outlets in Mountainside, N.J., said spending in publications aimed at gay audiences rose 2 percent in 2005, to $212 million. From 2003 to 2004, spending increased 28 percent. This year, Rivendell expects another large increase.
"Smart companies would say it's all about being inclusive anyway," the chief executive of Rivendell, Todd Evans, said. "Its so funny how laissez-faire it is now to advertise to this market."
28% increase in LGBT targeted advertising spending? So much for the impact of the wingnuts boycotts. (18 wingnut homo-hating groups have reinstated a boycott of Ford b/c of its continued advertising investments in LGBT media sources. Note that the original boycott had 43 participating groups. I'm not going to post a link to this garbage so you can just read the NYT for all the details).
Homo-bloggers around the country have been noting this little-boy cott as an example of just another desperately petty attempt by the wingnuts to isolate homos. But the evidence don't lie! We are a firmly entrenched target market for lots and lots and lots of advertising dollars.
The national LGBT labor organization Pride at Work has issued a statement making the excellent point that boycotting Ford is only going to hurt more American working families (30,000 workers are due to be laid off).
So all you anti-gay marriage zealots need to step up and explain to these 30,000 families how lesbians pose a greater threat to their families than losing their jobs, health insurance and pension. I'd really like to know.
