From Ethics Daily:
The Human Rights Campaign tagged the nation's largest retailer with a red "do not buy" rating for the holiday season, claiming the company is moving in the wrong direction for equality of gay employees.
This year the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay-rights group, ranked Wal-Mart near the bottom of places to shop in its 2008 "Buying for Equality" guide. Wal-Mart scored 40 out of 100 possible points in the HRC's sixth annual Corporate Equality Index, which rates companies on policies like anti-discrimination policies, domestic-partner benefits, diversity training, transgender issues and advertising.
"Voting doesn’t just happen on Election Day," HRC President Joe Solmonese said on the group's Web site. "Whenever you buy a cup of coffee, fill up your gas tank or book a flight for that dream vacation, you’re giving your dollars to a business that can have a tremendous impact on the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community."
I've spent some time here bashing the American Family Association for their boycott of the Ford Motor Company, then crowing and claiming success when their sales dropped (like an auto company needed help losing sales with gas at $3.00 a gallon), so I've got mixed feelings about the HRC encouraging the GLBT community to take the same kind of approach here.
On the practical side, I wonder (1) how much the GLBT community spends at Wal-Mart in the first place and (2) can they make a noticable impact on Wal-Mart's sales if they take that money elsewhere.
That doesn't negate the issue of principle, but I don't think this is the right approach here either. I go back to the situations where right-wing groups have promoted boycotts, like the situation with Ford because they had the nerve to advertise and support gay-oriented activities. I thought that idea showed pettiness, and, while I agree with the goal of the HRC here, shunning Wal-Mart because of their ranking being hostle to gays also strikes me as somewhat petty.
I believe the issue deserves the publicity the HRC is promoting for it, but let's let everybody make their own shopping decisions this holiday season. Ooops, did I piss the right-wing folks off by not saying Christmas? I sure hope they don't boycott my blog!
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I really don't want to sound like I am whining...but me thinks HRC calling for a boycott based on discrimination is little like the "kettle calling the pot black".
ReplyDeletePastor Paul