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."

[Havisham]

It's gotten to the point that if you're straight your guilty in advance. Thomas Sowell has described this trend as the quiet repeal of the American Revolution.

[DAnconia55]

Homophobe Republic?
Homophobe Socialistic?

[DAnconia55]

Ditto. #5 here.

Unconcerned with what gay men do with their penises as long as it isn't me - bump!

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh stop with the 'real conservative' stuff.

For people offended by sodomy, y'all sure like to talk about it. I don't understand people who love to wallow in whatever they find that is 'distasteful'. It is like taking three big swigs of a contraband bottle of bourbon just to make sure it is really bourbon. You have given gays far more lines of text and far more importance than they should conceivable ever had in the big scheme of things.

And you all are furious, no doubt, that our Commander in Chief isn't spending more time talking about it. I thought we wanted to get rid of the last one because we were tired of the president talking about sodomy. I want our president, and our government to have no discussion, and no policy, and take no action at all on sodomy. It is not the business of the government. It is amazing how little the gays affect us when we don't give them the stage.

[adam_az]

No kidding, these guys just want to grab onto the tail of any news story that has to do with homosexuals, and ride it for as long as they can.

I don't profess to hate gays like they do - but I bet they spend more time thinking about gay people and gayness issues than I do. I enjoy watching the testosterone laden "real man" bonding that occurs on this board between guys when they talk about homosexuality.

What do you think that all adds up to? ;)

[TheSpottedOwl]

Well a gay agenda is nothing new to them; they've been bleeping their employees up the yingyang for years.

I've been personally boycotting them for years. Just another reason not to shop there.

[oceanperch]

I have found over my life time being apart of not so popular practices/ideas. Usaully in time they seem to become popular.

One could only hope.

Boy I have never been more proud to be a Conservative Catholic.

[oceanperch]

Good words in that post. May I steal them for my tagline?

[TheAngryClam]

A free one.

[oceanperch]

Hetro or Homo I do not care to hear about body fluids mixing.

Unless it is told about in a good joke.

[Clint N. Suhks]

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

BUT it doesn’t include consensual incestuals, bestials and consensual pedophiles…why are you Liberaltarians such hypocrites?

It's not a real hate-the-homo thread if it doesn't get at least 500 replies.

Only because Hypocrisy merits NO response.

[breakem]

Hypocrisy merits NO response.

Thanx for replying then.

[Clint N. Suhks]

Hypocrisy merits NO response.

BTW what is my "Hypocrisy"?

[breakem]

Rope, now study Clint's technique. Misrepresent your opponents view over and over even after numerous explanations and then you can get the thread to last a really long time.

Make stupid remarks like equating beastiality and pedophilia with consentual sex between adults and you can get another 5 or 6 replies out of it. BTW the last point is a favorite technique of the "slippery slope" crowd and lazy posters. So you'll want to get it into some of your early replies.

[kuma]

And the atypical supporters of liberal, socialist (as in social engineering), gay propaganda show up on these threads every time just to be sure to call everyone a nasty little "hater". If that PC garbage isn't liberal what is???

Why do you all feel the need to be obsessively involved & an active promoter of socialism (social engineering) and indoctrination?

Why do Wal-Mart employees have to go through sensitivity training? Why can't they just go about their jobs without having to give their consent to the sexually dysfunctional?

[oceanperch]

Tagline adjustment.

Seems the best thing people would want to concentrate on is their talents and not whine or over focus on what they do not have in their life.

Look at where it got the bra burners all these years later.

[Clint N. Suhks]

Sorry, what was my hypocricy again?

[I got the rope]

Who in their right mind could possibly fathom that homosexual behavior could be normalized in such a way. Our body parts have a function. What rational person thinks attraction (to the same sex) and sodomy are acceptable forms of behavior.

Walmart is going down a slippery path with this nonsense. By making this judgement about personal behavior you can assume that they don't care about other personal behaviors as well. What's next? Drug use?

Are these the type of employees that Walmart needs? Apparantly so because as one other poster pointed out their wages are terrible.

It is obvious that they don't care about their employees/customers with decisions like this.

[Clint N. Suhks]

SORRY? What was your answer for the 10th on legally differentiating the difference between your blow-up doll and animals again?