Companies Rated On Homosexual Policies

Financial Times ^ | August 13, 2002 | Lydia Adetunji

[Red Jones]

Gay staff treated unequally despite progress By Lydia Adetunji in Washington Published: August 13 2002 20:53 | Last Updated: August 13 2002 20:53

The majority of the largest US companies have laid the basic foundations of non- discrimination against gays and lesbians but lack commitment to full equality, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The "corporate equality index", compiled by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian rights group, rates 319 US companies on their treatment of employees on the basis of sexual orientation.

Among the 13 companies that scored 100 per cent on the index are Nike, American Airlines, Apple Computer, Xerox, Intel, Eastman Kodak and JP Morgan Chase.

Elizabeth Birch, HRC's executive director, said the index was a tool to help fair-minded Americans decide what products to buy, where to work and how to invest. "We hope the index inspires those companies that fell short to take the next step and change their policies, not merely to improve their scores but because fairness is good for business."

Job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not against federal law, although it is prohibited in the statutes of a number of states, notably California.

The HRC says that a decade ago companies were placed on such lists merely because they were making a small effort or were not actively hostile. Now, it says, more companies have policies to protect gay and lesbian employees, something that helps them attract and retain good workers.

Among factors that determined index rankings were whether the companies included sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies and whether they offered health insurance coverage to employees' same-sex partners. The HRC singled out Exxon Mobil, the oil company, which scored 14 per cent on the index, for criticism for opposing a shareholder resolution calling on it to include sexual orientation in its equal employment policies.

The group claims Exxon tried to use a diversity training programme to mitigate negative publicity surrounding its 1999 decision to remove sexual orientation from Mobil's non-discrimination policy following the merger of the companies. Other oil companies on the list, Chevron-Texaco, BP and Shell, scored 86 per cent each.

Three companies scored zero: CBRL Group/Cracker Barrel, Emerson Electric and Lockheed Martin. HRC said none had any policies aimed at treating gay and lesbian employees fairly.

[Red Jones]

So, there you have it. We boycott Nike, American Airlines, Apple Computer, Xerox, Intel, Eastman Kodak and JP Morgan Chase. We patronize CBRL Group, Cracker Barrel, Emerson Electric and Lockheed Martin.

Thank-you Human Rights Coalition for making this possible.

[dennisw]

Homos are unfit to judge others. They are nature's anomalies.

[Vidalia]

What about rating homosexuals on company contribution and performance...?

[IronJack]

the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian rights group

I'm curious. Why don't they call themselves "The Gay and Lesbian Rights Campaign?" Why do they imply a commonality with all humans, when they could care less about HUMAN rights, and focus solely on their own, which are largely fictional I might add.

[sailor4321]

So we can put "sic" after their name (which seems like an entirely appropriate thing to do)?

[templar]

Curious if anyone knows what the homosexual policies of the recent big failures (Enron, Global Crossing, Worldcom, Quest, etc.) are. Also what are their policies about religious tolerance toward Christians? I heard that US West, before being acquired by Quest was pro homo and negative toward christians (been told that by employees and derived it from news sources reporting the policies).

Might be a worthwhile consideration when making stock purchases, or might not.

[Texas_Jarhead]

Concurrence BUMP

[Tacis]

Great! These companies treat fairies well! But, don't even think about getting a job there if you are over age 50. Hell, at Nike, if you are over age 35, you are probably too old.

[NetValue]

"Might be a worthwhile consideration when making stock purchases, or might not."

NOT! I would not do what the "unspeakables" do, i.e., patronize or buy products based on group rights. It's a good investment or it's not. It's a good product or it's not. However, for things where there are equivalent products I whole-heartedly support boycots of companies that try to punish the Boy Scouts, show disrespect for Veterans, or allow themselves to be "shaken-down" as Toyota does.

[farmguy]

http://commerce.motorola.com/consumer/QWhtml/motopride/

[newzjunkey]

Did you notice that Microsoft got an 87% rating? Boycott Apple & Microsoft... Yeah, great idea.

[MonroeDNA]

Time to send Exxon-Mobile a resume.

Libertarian.

[Guillermo]

They want special treatment based SOLELY on where one CHOOSES to put their penis.

Remember back a few years ago when they said all that they wanted was to have the privacy to do what they wanted in their bedrooms?

[Timesink]

I'm curious. Why don't they call themselves "The Gay and Lesbian Rights Campaign?" Why do they imply a commonality with all humans, when they could care less about HUMAN rights, and focus solely on their own, which are largely fictional I might add.

Easy: In order to lie. All that matters is achieving their goal. If they need to fool the public and the media in order to achieve said goal, then to hell with truth. You will found that there are thousands of left-wing activist groups with very innocuous sounding names. For example: Assume you just heard someone tonight mention "People For the American Way" for the first time. Now, with no knowledge of the "nonprofit" organization except for its name, what would you expect the organization to be about?

[Timesink]

Did you notice that Microsoft got an 87% rating? Boycott Apple & Microsoft... Yeah, great idea.

Microsoft's in Seattle and Apple's in San Francisco, more or less. If they weren't shouting "WE LOVE GAYS!" from the rooftops, they'd probably have their entire campuses burned down.

Linux, of course, comes from nowhere and everywhere. :)

[Timesink]

Great! These companies treat fairies well! But, don't even think about getting a job there if you are over age 50. Hell, at Nike, if you are over age 35, you are probably too old.

Or if you're overweight. Big companies LOVE to discriminate against fat people. It's the last group where they can focus their inherent hate on a group without fear.

[mathurine]

My sentiments as well. Tell it like it is. Rate companies as queer-favorable or not, and indicate if they give special price breaks to queers. Do you suppose this outfit doing the rating hires anyone but queers?

[IronJack]

what would you expect the organization to be about?

Advance guard for Norman Lear's neo-socialist invasion?

[Recovering_Democrat]

KUDOS
to the following companies. The following received LOW scores from the Radical Gay Left! (I went to the web site to check out what companies deserve three cheers!!)

THE FOLLOWING RECEIVED A SCORE OF 29 or Less of a Possible 100!
1. Lockheed Martin
2. Emerson Electric
3. Cracker Barrel
4. Wal-Mart Stores
5. Shaw Industries
6. Perot Systems Corp.
7. Meijer Inc.
8. Mead Westvaco Corp
9. Fed Ex Corp.
10. Exxon Mobil
11. Domino's Inc.
12. Wyeth (formerly American Home Products)
13. WorldCom Inc.
14. Volkswagen of America
15. United Parcel Service (UPS)
16. TIAA-CREF
17. May Department Stores
18. The Kroger Company
19. Staples Inc.
20. Sprint Inc.
21. Rohm & Haas
22. Rite Aid Corp.
23. Radio Shack
24. R. R. Donnelly & Sons
25. Quantum Corp.
26.PepsiCo Corp.
27. Newell Rubbermaid Inc.
28. New York Life Insurance Co.
29. Nestle Purina Petcare Inc.
30. Morningstar Inc.
31. MBNA Corp.
32. Maytag
33. Lear Corp.
34. International Paper.
35. Illinois Tool Works
36. Hormel Foods
37. Hasbro
38. Hannaford Bros.
39. Hallmark Cards
40. H.J. Heinz
41. H.E. Butt Grocery
42. Genuine Parts Co.
43. Franklin Templeton Investments
44. Eli Lilly & Co.
45. Dole Food Co.
46. Comark Inc.
47. Coca-Cola
48. Circuit City
49. Bethlehem Steel
50. Bayer Corp.
51. Bank of New York
52. Baldor Electric
53. Automatic Data Processing Inc.
54. Archer Daniels Midland
55. Applied Materials & Engineering
56. Albertson's Inc.
57. AIG (American International Group)
58. Advanced Digital Information Corp.
59. A.G. Edwards

Here is the URL from the leftist website. You should be able to find the entire chart from this Press Release:
Gays Try To Intimidate Corporate America, But Conservatives Will Patronize the Companies The Leftists Loathe!

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

...tried to use a diversity training programme...

You know, I'm really beginning to loathe this PC type of phraseology.