CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Business As Usual? How 8 Anti-Gay Companies Are Measuring Up

exxon

We told you about Exxon/Mobil’s recent, serial vote against the gays, when for the fourteenth year straight, shareholders refused to adopt formal protections for LGBT employees. They say they don’t discriminate and never would, unless you count not offering benefits to same sex spouses. Gotcha.

With that in mind we thought it might be a good time to check in with the rest of corporate America to see how they’re doing and the answer is: pretty good! According to the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index 2013, 99% of major businesses prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, 89% offer domestic partner benefits, and a healthy 80% demonstrate a public commitment to the LGBT community. Nice stats!

Click through to find out which anti-gay companies are cleaning up their acts and which ones are just rolling around in their own corporate filth….

Chick-fil-A

chick-fil-a

2012 was a rotten year for Chick-fil-A, right? CEO Dan Cathy came out against gay marriage, there were boycotts and protests, and late-night comedy jokes, PETA got in on the act, and the company’s sales went up 12%. Wait, what? Any press is good press? Or that chicken is just addicting? Or God really does prefer Chick-fil-A Waffle Potato Fries over fags?

But for every new store that opens there seems to be another that’s shut out of more responsible communities and that’s a good thing. And with C-F-A so inextricably associated with marriage bigotry, even as America embraces marriage equality like never before, their prospects over the long term don’t look good, however many free sandwiches they hand out. And honestly, we’ve had their chicken and it’s not that great.

Brown Forman

brown-forman-products

A few years ago we told you about the discriminatory policies of Brown Forman, a Fortune 1000 company that distributes Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, Finlandia Vodkas, Fetzer Wines, and Korbel Champagne among other brands. Soon after, we got word from the company’s flak they had changed course:

“Brown-Forman began offering domestic partner benefits in January 2009, amended our EEO policy to include gender identity or expression and have created a GLBT Resource Group, among other GLBT efforts.”

Well done, BF! We may now belly up to the bar for that Jack and Coke without reservation.

Cinemark

cinemark

In 2008, theater chain Cinemark made news when then-CEO and LDS member Alan Stock donated the maximum allowable to the Yes on 8 campaign barring same sex marriage in California. Biopic Milk was coming out at the same time, providing a high-profile protest opportunity for gay marriage advocates and a bunch of bad press for Cinemark. Since then, Stock is out, the COO who had to clean up his mess is in, and the company now offers domestic partner benefits. Progress.

AutoZone

autozonePhoto: Wikimedia Commons

You probably missed it but the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center had a Business Professional Meet & Greet a few weeks ago at the Hilton and AutoZone was there! So we can report some limited progress for the self-described “Autozoners,” including offering domestic partner benefits — but only in California where it’s mandated by law; and only to new hires, or previous hires at the next open enrollment, probably in November this year.

But you’d know that, Autozoner, if you were there at the Memphis meet and greet — except no benefits for you in Tennessee, or anywhere else, really, except the Golden State.  The HRC Index ranks them at 15 for their non-discrimination policy, so there’s that. But Pep Boys gets a 65, so you decide. In the meantime, there’s this amusing AutoZone/Boyzone “collision” from a few years ago.

Wal-Mart and Exxon/Mobil

walmart

It’s a happy fact that the higher a company ranks on Fortune magazine’s list of the most successful businesses, the more likely it is to rank high on the HRC Index, with two major exceptions. Wal-Mart and Exxon/Mobil have traded the top spot on the Fortune 10 for the last several years, but neither offers domestic partner benefits. In spite of that, Wally World manages to earn a 60 on the Index with a limited prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation, among other criteria.

Exxon

As for Exxon/Mobil? Try the only company to receive a negative score on the HRC Index — despite the fact that nine out of ten Fortune 10 companies prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, six prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and eight provide partner health benefits. Exxon/Mobil chart their own course, we guess, like a tanker wandering aimlessly through Prince William Sound.

Domino’s

Dominos_pizza_outlet

If you’re conflicted about Domino’s, well so were we. On one greasy, cheese-covered hand there’s the chain’s founder, Tom Monaghan, a devout Roman Catholic, who has used his pizza megaphone to undermine “immoral” Obamacare and finance a 2001 ballot initiative to remove sexual orientation from a Michigan town’s discrimination ordinance. On the other are pizza drones and moon pizza.

Then last year we shared a letter from the pizza chain’s  VP Communications Tim McIntyre, who brought us up to date on his version of all things Domino’s:

“Mr. Monaghan… sold Domino’s Pizza in 1998. [We have] a large number of gay and lesbian employees, franchise owners and executives in our company, including two vice presidents. We recently began providing benefits to all married couples, same-sex or otherwise. What Mr. Monaghan stands for and does is his business, but he does not represent Domino’s Pizza.”

Still, the HRC Index ranks the restaurant chain at just a 35, so we suggest a pizza summit to give everyone a chance to further explain themselves and we like sausage and pepperoni.

Urban Outfitters

urban-outfitters-shop

Another big company, another big opportunity for a conservative CEO to advance his own social agenda. Such was the case of Richard Hayne, 262nd richest man in America and founder of Urban Outfitters with his (now) ex-wife in 1970. A native of Pennsylvania, Hayne was a regular contributor to Senator Rick Santorum (of the frothy mix) and then got his company some bad press when a t-shirt advocating same-sex marriage (completely the Urban Outfitters M.O.) was pulled from shelves in the heat of the Prop 8 campaign.

Since then the company wised-up and teamed with the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Equality California to make pro-marriage equality unisex tees with profits going to support, well, marriage equality. Smart, we said, but still, they only rate a 15 on the HRC Index for their policy of non-discrimination. No benefits for same-sex partners after the t-shirt business? That’s more irritating than a cheap poly-cotton blend.

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