Posted on 07/07/2003 7:37:43 AM PDT by kattracks
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - One of the country's largest pro-family ministries is taking the nation's largest retailer to task for equating homosexuality with immutable characteristics such as race and gender. Focus on the Family said Wednesday that it is "profoundly disappointed" that Wal-Mart will also force its more than one million employees to undergo so-called "sensitivity training."
Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Williams told CNSNews.com Thursday that the company has, in fact, added "sexual orientation" to the list of protected classes in its equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination policies.
"We felt it was the right thing to do at this time for our employees," he said. "We want everyone who works for Wal-Mart in the states - that's 1.1 million people - to feel that they are valued and that they are treated with respect, no exceptions at all."
Williams said the move also "makes a lot of sense" from a business standpoint.
"Our continued growth requires us to be one of the more desirable employers around," he said. "We think that clearly stating our policy of respect and protection for everyone regardless of 'sexual orientation' will help us compete for talented employees who otherwise might not feel comfortable coming with us."
Focus on the Family says Wal-Mart's action 'is a profound betrayal'
Dr. Bill Maier, vice president and psychologist in residence at Focus on the Family, said the "right thing to do" would have been for Wal-Mart to consider the values of the overwhelming majority of its shoppers and employees.
"Singling people out for their differences is a profound betrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King's dream, and that is exactly what Wal-Mart's policy does," Maier said in a press release.
"Focus on the Family shares Wal-Mart's commitment to treating all people with dignity and respect, but this sensitivity training offends the values of the vast majority of Wal-Mart's associates and customers," he said.
While Wal-Mart said its decision was based on fairness and good business, homosexual activists are claiming credit for pressuring the company to make the change.
"Wal-Mart's decision is in response to nearly two years of discussion between the company and the Equality Project partners," said a press release from the Pride Foundation, one of the partners in the effort.
The "Equality Project" is a coalition of pro-homosexual investment groups that use their claimed $100 billion in capital to influence companies to give special employment status based on a worker's claimed homosexuality, just as federal law requires employers to do for immutable characteristics such as race, gender, age and disability.
"This change helps ensure that Wal-Mart's gay and lesbian employees will be judged on their merits, not on their sexual orientation," claimed Zack Wright, a spokesman for the Pride Foundation.
"The inclusion of sexual orientation in Wal-Mart's nondiscrimination policy is the only example of fair treatment for gays and lesbians that some people will ever see, particularly in rural, more conservative areas," Wright continued, taking a swipe at the largest segment of Wal-Mart's customer base.
Groups already pushing for even greater concessions
But even as the activist groups were praising the company for agreeing to their demands, they were hinting at expectations of further concessions.
"Wal-Mart's recognition of sexual orientation is an important first step toward equality," said Marsha Botzer, a member of the Pride Foundation board. "I look forward to continuing our discussion and eagerly anticipate the day when they will also include gender identity in their non-discrimination policies."
"Gender identity" is the umbrella phrase used by liberal activists to refer to individuals choosing to identify themselves as members of the opposite sex. Individuals who dress or have surgery to change the appearance of their bodies to that of the opposite sex are said to be "expressing their gender identity."
Stephen Crampton of the American Family Association (AFA) warned that Wal-Mart can expect more demands from homosexual activists in the future, now that they have proven unwilling to stand up for traditional morality.
"Just as Neville Chamberlain gave in to Nazi Germany's outrageous demands, so Wal-Mart has capitulated to the radical homosexual agenda," Crampton said.
The AFA believes the next step for homosexual activists will be pressuring Wal-Mart to extend health benefits to same-sex partners of employees, followed by corporate recognition and support of homosexual clubs and public events like "gay pride" parades.
Wal-Mart officials acknowledged that a computer-based non-discrimination training program for all employees would include discussion of "sexual orientation." The change to the policy will have no effect on employee's eligibility for benefits.
The company does not offer insurance or other benefits to sex partners of unmarried employees, whether heterosexual or homosexual.
'Sensitivity' or 'diversity training' used to further homosexual agenda
As CNSNews.com previously reported, groups that monitor anti-discrimination policies believe homosexual activists are using mandatory workshops and diversity training programs to advance their agenda throughout corporate America.
"Diversity training is becoming mandatory catechism class for the church of the politically correct," said Jordan Lorence, an attorney and senior vice president for the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative public policy group based in Arizona.
Lorence said that, until recently, homosexual activists have been willing to tolerate others who disagree with but do not publicly protest their sexual behavior choices.
"But what is happening now is that we're seeing a subtle but radical transformation of that traditional norm, and the vehicle in which this change is coming is diversity training by employers, either public or private," he said.
"I don't want to minimize racial tensions or sexual harassment," he added. "Those can be handled by seminars or training to be respectful of people's differences, but not compelling a uniformity of thought."
See Earlier Story:
Wal-Mart Includes Homosexuals in Anti-Discrimination Policy (July 2, 2003)
E-mail a news tip to Jeff Johnson.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
I wasn't aware that Wal-Mart had a practice of displaying homosexuals in the checkout lanes.
I think that the inherently non-consensual nature of pedophilia will keep it a unacceptable form of sexual expression for any foreseeable future. There are only a small handful of sickos out there who seriously support being able to legally have sex with, say, an 8-year-old.
Reading that article "Pedophilia Chic" a few years ago opened up eyes as to how mainstream it was becoming. This wasn't being introduced into fringe areas.
At the risk of being, uh, controversial, I think that that particular "trend" was focused on teens (you know, 16-17 year olds), rather than is uniformly considered pedophilia, i.e. raping kids 15 and under. Now, that's still creepy and exploitative, but it's a matter of degree.
It's a long way from watching a 17-year-old girl at the beach for a bit too long, to wanting to have sex with little kids.
The laws on pedophilia and age-of-consent laws and related criminal law (like child porn) aren't always consistent, and the inconsistencies pose some strange problems. For example, in the state I live in (Nebraska), a 23-year-old man can legally have any manner of consensual sex with a 17-yo girl. But if he *videotapes it,* he's de jure a child pornographer. I'm not sure that makes sense. That exact case happened to a young guy here (the girl's teacher, which was a big problem) just last year. More than a few academics, political hacks, etc. have pointed out that there is a sort of fuzzy area where teens are able to consent to sex (with individuals up to a certain age) but their other legal responsibilities (like capacity to contract, etc) are severely limited.
Acknowledging that there's a bit of a gray area is hardly the same as saying that people oughta be able to legally molest little kids. People (even gays and liberals) are overwhelmingly against legal normalization of pedophilia and/or lowering the age of consent.
Snidely
I wish they would...I could sure use someone to redecorate my house... ; )
Snidely
Ah. But the Fundies WANT it to be....
Ah. Then it's none of your damned business, is it?
Company dress codes.
You don't. Don't work there.
Great and empowering news, no doubt, for the child molestors, rapists, adulterers, liars, embezzlers, murderers, and plain old thieves working for Wal-Mart.
Dan
I don't give a damn what these people do in private. But I don't want my government and society sanctioning a practice for which God destroyed 2 cities.
They want to force us to accept their wickedness. Well my family will never accept it. Although it seems like many here at this so called conservative website have accepted it. Read the 1st chapter of Romans and focus on the last verse.
And the libertarians want nothing to be a crime.
This fundy wants queers to shut up about their private lives and stop forcing society to accept their deviance.
Who is forcing you to accept anything?
They have a gun to your head (prolly a pink one) and are making you be gay or die?
Nope. No one is forcing you to do ANYTHING.
But you can't force Wal-Mart to do what YOU want.
And you can't force gays not to have sex.
Yes indeed. I can't wait for a moustached "woman" to ask me if I need any assistance:
"Wal-Mart's recognition of sexual orientation is an important first step toward equality," said Marsha Botzer, a member of the Pride Foundation board. "I look forward to continuing our discussion and eagerly anticipate the day when they will also include gender identity in their non-discrimination policies."
K-Mart and Dayton's (Target) dissed conservatives and have never completely recovered.
Wrong again.
My health insurance is more than double what it would be than if homos had to pay their own way. WoMo's group insurance rates will rise as will absenteeism and employee strife. The result will be lower efficiency and higher prices.
Don't forget about the homo agenda in the public schools. Kids are FORCED to endure it.
Then there is the sensitivity training so many employers are forcing on employees.
So we see the homos using force in different areas which not only helps to keep their population up but also keeps the emergency rooms busy.
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