HRC got hit where it hurts today. Donna Rose and Jamison Green, the last two trans folk on the Business Council, resigned. For those of you not up on HRC's many tentacles, the Business Council monitors gay and not-so-gay friendly businesses and tallies them in the Corporate Equality Index. HRC most recently brandished against Wal-Mart.

Former Board member Rose and Green's resignation comes after Human Rights Campaign flip-flopped on the non-inclusive ENDA. The non-profit originally said it wouldn't back the Employment Non-Discrimination Act without trans inclusion, then it said it would support an act that didn't include trans folk, and then it backstabbed and supported the measure. People were not pleased, not least of all Rose and Green, who write:
The letter's signed "In Solidarity and Equality". We're not sure if they include Solmonese on that one…

Download the Rose and Green resignation here.

Joe Solmonese won't be shopping at Wal-Mart this season. He and his Human Rights Campaign gave the budget retail giant an abysmal rating on their corporate equality index:

[HRC] is giving Wal-Mart a red "do not buy" rating in its new consumer guide, bestowing a lump of coal on the retail giant just in time for the holiday shopping season.

Citing Wal-Mart's refusal to offer domestic partner benefits to its gay and lesbian workers, the HRC said Tuesday that the USA's biggest private employer has "more work to do in furthering equality." It advised gays and their supporters to shop elsewhere.

Wal-Mart rated a red 40 on a scale of 100, down from a yellow 65 in 2006. It was among 54 companies that scored 45 or lower in HRC's 2008 Corporate Equality index, which assigns ratings to 519 large companies. Also in the red: Toys R Us, RadioShack and AutoZone.

No, not AutoZone! Where are we going to get our lube jobs!?

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• Thanks to NewNowNext for passing along Amy Winehouse's video for "Tears Dry On Their Own".

• HIV testing outside of health care environments actually work.

• The Christian right's all about Wal-Mart and their fall from the gay graces.

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Wal-Mart's love affair with the gays has come to an end. The mega-retailer joined forces with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce last year, but has again folded to conservative pressure and disavowed its gay ways. From Fortune:

"We are not currently planning corporate-level contributions to GLBT groups," said Mona Williams, the company's senior vice president of corporate communications. Individual stores can still donate to gay groups.

By way of explanation, Ms. Williams cited a policy adopted last fall saying that Wal-Mart would not make corporate contributions "to support or oppose highly controversial issues" unless they directly relate to the company's ability to serve its customers.

While one would expect an outcry from gay activists, it seems even they, like the AFA, can't quit Wal-Mart.

CONTINUED »

The American Family Association has a long history of inciting riots against "pro-gay" companies. They've got their on-and-off hate affair with Wal-Mart. And of course there's their "victorious" campaign against Ford's dalliance with GLAAD.

But how do the "traditional" family focused rabble rousers know which brands to brand enemies of their fundamentalist state? They subject themselves to hours and hours of gay-endorsed television, of course. The group's project summary:

Between February 11 through May 5, American Family Association monitored the top eight prime-time network programs featuring lead or supporting homosexual characters. These programs were specifically identified by the activist-homosexual group GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) as GLAAD Media Award winners, or as showcasing leading or supporting homosexual characters.

Of the eight shows - The Simpsons, ER, The Office, The Class, Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy - four air on the Disney-owned ABC. That means the AFA's going to have to add the media giant to its list of offenders, which already includes Ford, Verizon and Quaker Oats. The AFA's got quite a battle ahead.

If they're really serious about taking down fag-friendly firms, AFA members should again take GLAAD's advice: the media watch dog has a rundown of all the gay pride month televisuals.

Ten companies to support, as per the AFA [AfterElton]
It's Not TV. It's H-O-M-O. [Good As You]

Certainly you remember the story on how a group of pious investigators discovered Walmart.com sells "gay books". In an effort to stop their dastardly deeds, concerned consumer Donna Garner gathered a group of homies to raise a stink, telling The Baptist Press:

I think we’ve done a pretty good job in our country of letting Wal-Mart know we’ve not been pleased at all with their decision to back the homosexual agenda.

Of course you're not, honey. And, yes, you have done a "good" job.

As we learned with the Wal-Mart v. American Family Association, the mega store's got a reputation for folding under pressure. Thus, it (unfortunately) comes as no surprise that they've already pulled a number of titles from their online store. The twist comes in a particular genre being targeted: a sexually explicit anime known as Yaoi Hentai and the so-called controversy that boils below.

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AFA may have called off its boycott of Wal-Mart back in November, but it seems a number of conservatives weren't entirely convinced the super store had given up its "fag-enabling" ways. And they were right - some sleuthing found that the discount store's been selling such outrageous texts as David Eisenbach's Gay Power: An American Revolution and over 1,000 more. Vile, no? Writing for The Baptist Press, Erin Roach fumes: .

…Wal-Mart continues to dabble in supporting a lifestyle that is contrary to what many of its customers believe is natural and safe.

By offering book selections that cater to the gay and lesbian crowd, America's top discount retailer is demonstrating a desire to satisfy a vocal minority at the expense of losing the support of a large demographic that helped make Wal-Mart the successful business it has been for years.

Such betrayal! How will they ever go on? By raising a stink, that's how.

CONTINUED »

The American Family Association, those demigods of familial values, has just released an edict urging their members to boycott Wal-Mart over its alliance with National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Insisting that said alliance furthers gay causes (or, as Shirley Phelps Roper would say, are "fag-enablers"), the AFA hopes to run Wal-Mart out of business. 365 Gay reports:

Randy Sharp, AFA's director of special projects said he did an online search of Walmart.com using such terms as "gay," "lesbian," "transgender," "bisexual," and "gay marriage".

"They'll come up with hundreds, sometimes even thousands of products relating to homosexuality [and promotion of] the agenda of the homosexual community," Sharp told Christian publication Agape.

AFA is calling "on Christian consumers to spend their dollars elsewhere as a sign of their displeasure with Wal-Mart's pro-homosexual leanings."

We've never thought of Wal-Mart as particularly gay, so to test out the Sharp's theory, we made a list of "gay" things to see if we could find them. And, you know what? We found every last one of them!

So, what was on our list? Poppers, industrial sized butt plug, a goat, "Family" sized Vaseline, barely legal hookers, Mark Foley, crystal meth, spiked necklace, rubber gloves, a gerbil, a gerbil wheel (don't ask), plastic wrap, a clown mask, and Saltines (we've got a sensitive tummy).

There you have it folks, Wal-Mart's a way better place to get your supplies for your next gay orgy than that dumb ol' sex shop.

We mourn the daddy of Madonna's Vogue. [Proceed at Your Own Risk]

Wal-mart is just so gay. [Family Research Council]

Rupert Everett just got hotter. Lost role. [Irish Examiner]

It's like a gay political daisy chain. [Gay.com]

Ghana stonewalls gay conference. [The Advocate]

You couldn't pay us to go to Iraq. [365 Gay]

• Toby has listed his favorite blogs and we’re honored to have made the cut. We are a little hurt we're not top 5 though. [Vividblurry]

• Artist Art Miller has captured some great photos of one of our favorite places, Oklahoma City’s Habana Inn. To view the photos find Art’s name in the “artist” section. [atm gallery]

• Now is your chance to ask hottie Leandro Becker anything your little heart desires. The DJ is doing an interview with Made In Brazil and they’re taking questions from readers. [Made In Brazil]

• This is just messed up. Wal Mart’s website yesterday listed biographies of Martin Luther King, Jack Johnson, and Dorothy Dandridge under the "similar products" page for Planet of the Apes. It has since been changed. [Crooks and Liars]