BOYCOTT WAL-MART OVER GAY AGENDA FOR 4TH OF JULY HOLIDAY FREEP KAREN BURKE 1-479-273-4314

FREE REPUBLIC ^ | July 2, 2003 | the eagle has landed

[TheEaglehasLanded]

Wal-Mart Announces New Gay Policy Wednesday, 2 July 2003

SEATTLE -- Wal-Mart Stores, the nation's largest private employer, has broadened its corporate anti-bias policy to include gay and lesbian workers, the company announced Tuesday.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said that the company implemented the changes because "It's the right thing to do for our employees. We want all of our associates to feel they are valued and treated with respect — no exceptions."

The decision was disclosed by a Seattle gay rights foundation that had invested in Wal-Mart and then lobbied the company for two years to make its discrimination policies more inclusive.

A spokeswoman told The New York Times on Tuesday that Wal-Mart had already sent out letters Tuesday to its 3,500 stores, after which store managers would explain the change to its 1.5 million employees.

Along with prodding from groups, such as the Pride Foundation, the spokeswoman said several gay employees wrote senior management about six weeks ago to say they would "continue to feel excluded" unless Wal-Mart changed its policies.

With the change announced by Wal-Mart this week, 9 of the 10 largest Fortune 500 companies now have rules barring discrimination against gay employees, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Activists will now press for DP health benefits.

The exception is the Exxon Mobil Corporation, which was created in 1999 after Exxon acquired Mobil, and then revoked a Mobil policy that provided medical benefits to partners of gay employees, as well as a policy that included sexual orientation as a category of prohibited discrimination.

Wal-Mart said it currently had no plans to extend medical benefits to domestic partners.

Though no one directly linked the company decision to the Thursday's Supreme Court ruling against the country's sodomy laws, it certainly didn't hurt.

"A major argument against equal benefits, against fair treatment of employees, has been taken away," said Kevin Cathcart of Lambda Legal. "And so even within corporations it's a very different dialogue today, a very different dialogue."

There is no federal law prohibiting discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation, but 13 states, the District of Columbia and several hundred towns, cities and counties have such legal protections in place for public and private employees.

Wal-Mart's new policy reads in part: "We affirm our commitment and pledge our support to equal opportunity employment for all qualified persons, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability or status as a veteran or sexual orientation."

[breakem]

PS: don't you sleep?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

The music department can throw out all the Country and Western, and replace it with show tunes.....

[DAnconia55]

When I have to or can.

I do FR in between work tasks, usually when eating or taking a break.

[breakem]

Hope you're not on the government dole! LOL! C-YA.

[Dave S]

as an American, I have the right to practice my religion whereever, and whenever I please.

Then you better own or have the permission of the owner to do on his property or you will find your ass thrown out into the street. Guess that gives the Satanists the right to practice their religion in our schools or your church.

[tdadams]

So quick to throw out Freedom of Association as well aren't you.

Where do you find freedom of association in the Constitution or Bill of Rights?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Oh - I almost forgot - they'll quit selling the "Left Behind" series, and replace it with "A Day in the Life of Harvey Fierstein".

[Bluntpoint]

The anti-homo logic on these treads quickly evaporates when you apply it to heterosexuals.

I will never let a beautiful women somomize me.

[Poohbah]

What amazes me about the "Left Behind" series is that they sell as well as they do...written as badly as they're written.

[Bluntpoint]

Somomize. Sodomize is a different story.

[truenospinzone]

Sorry, buddy. According to Merriam-Webster.com:

The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the Dictionary search box to the right.

Suggestions for somomize: 1. simooms 2. sodomize 3. psalmodies 4. zombiism 5. Solimoes 6. summarize 7. simonies 8. semimoist 9. summaries 10. salmonids 11. summarise

I'm gonna guess you meant "simooms": a hot dry violent dust-laden wind from Asian and African deserts. I know I wouldn't want a beautiful woman doing that to me.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I know - I skimmed a couple and pretty much gagged over the prose and the character development. Its kind of like a horror movie I started watching but abandoned the other night - as I told She Who Must Be Obeyed, horror can have some interesting plot ideas, but winds up sucking due to miserable scriptwriting and stilted dialogue.

The "Left Behind" series is the same way.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

That might have been my favorite exchange on FR ever.

[MEGoody]

"So, you want other employees at Wal-Mart to be able to say to their homosexual co-workers... "Go to hell you Soddomite Faggot. Our supervisor is opposed to your kind, you queer, sheep molestor. You will never get a promotion, no matter how hard you work, you perverted, POS".

How the heck did you get that out of what I said in 156? Read it again, then go back and read the posts to which it refers.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said that the company implemented the changes because "It's the right thing to do for our employees. We want all of our associates to feel they are valued and treated with respect — no exceptions."

What absolute vomit. They are driving the morals of this country into the freaking gutter while at the same time are incrementally destroying our sovereignty. And all this from a company that routinely sells Red Chinese goods....WTF is going on?

[MEGoody]

"No, your assbackwards knuckledragging reactionary bile is about trying to FORCE Gays to not be gay in their own houses. The point was evidently lost on both of you."

Wrong. If you've read my other posts, I am all in favor of the government keeping their nose out of the bedroom of consenting adults.

You started your tirade based upon a comment originally made about gay activists. They aren't about just letting someone commit buggery in their own homes and you know it. You are being disingenuous at the least.

I will not bother to address the rest of your post since those other items were not posted by me.

[Joe Hadenuf]

This is all incremental buddy. As soon as some queer doesn't get what he wants, like a management position, he'll sue everyone in sight, including Wal-Mart. They will put many of them in charge of management to pander to them and to keep them happy. Wal-Mart employees will all be working for hardcore queers within a few years.

[Johnny Gage]

Hysterics. Go ahead and boycott.

While I disagree with the homo agenda, I feel that NO ONE.. repeat NO ONE should be discriminated against.

I for one am happy that they've removed some of the mags from their checkout areas.

Are there any RV owners out there?
Did you know that it's a Corporate policy to allow traveling RV's to stay overnight their store parking lots?

We did this several times on long drives, during our recent vacation, rather than spend up to $50 just to stay in a campground for 5 hours.

[Clint N. Suhks]

For bonus points, true or false: Roe v. Wade invented the right to privacy in the 14th Amendment (no, this isn't a trick question, I won't say "False! It was always there! HAHAAH!" I promise.)

Nope, it was found in Griswald v. Connecticut which came before Roe, sometime in the 60’s I think.

[MEGoody]

"Someone needs to explain the concept of "biological function" to my dog."

Interesting. You compare the intelligence of gays to your dog.