Plugged-in: Wal-Mart
shuns gay groups
World's largest
retailer stops donating to gay-rights organizations.
Fortune’s Marc
Gunther reports, Money, CNN.com Online June 26, 2007
NEW YORK June 22 -- Wal-Mart,
the world's largest retailer, has decided to curb its support of gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender (GLBT) organizations after conservative Christian
groups threatened a boycott, and after some of its own employees expressed
disapproval.
The move comes a year after Wal-Mart (Charts, Fortune 500) had put on a
gay-friendly smile. The company joined the National Gay and Lesbian
Chamber of Commerce. It sponsored the annual convention of Out & Equal, a
group that promotes gay rights in the workplace, and sold gay-themed jewelry in
stores.
"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.
How significant is the pullback? Williams says it does not signal any less
support for its GLBT employees or for Wal-Mart Pride, a network of gay employees
at the company. She's an executive sponsor of the group, which was
sanctioned in 2005. "We certainly don't feel that it's a retrenchment,"
she said.
Others can't help but see it that way. After Wal-Mart explained its
decision to a meeting of about 50 Pride members, one contacted FORTUNE to
express disappointment.
"I thought the company was moving in the right direction," this employee wrote
in an email. "But last week changed everything. Pulling funding from
GLBT organizations is a slap in the face to gay employees and it sends a very
clear message. Diversity within Wal-Mart is only partially inclusive."
"They're catering to their conservative base," the employee added, in a phone
conversation.
Interestingly, gay-rights groups were more understanding. Selisse Berry,
the executive director of Out & Equal, said: "Wal-Mart continues to engage
on the issue of worker equality, and we will support them in that... This is a
marathon, not a sprint, and so long as Wal-Mart keeps its doors open, we hope to
give them encouragement." Wal-Mart had donated $60,000 to Out & Equal.
The Human Rights Campaign, America's largest gay-rights group, also says it will
continue to work closely with Wal-Mart. "With a company as large as
Wal-Mart, it's not going to happen as fast as many of us would like," says Daryl
Herrschaft, who oversees the HRC's workplace project.
Wal-Mart supported the gay chamber, an organization of more than 24,000 gay- and
lesbian-owned businesses, for the first time last year. (Other corporate
backers include IBM, Wells Fargo, Motorola and American Express.) The
chamber's president, Justin Nelson, did not return a call seeking comment.
Several sources told FORTUNE that Wal-Mart now intends to work harder to educate
its own employees about GLBT issues -- something it had been advised to do
before aligning itself publicly with gay-rights groups.
Last year, when anti-gay groups picketed stores, store managers weren't prepared
to explain the company's position. Leaders of Wal-Mart Pride say most of
its members work in and around the company's Bentonville headquarters, so they
have been unable to muster allies in the field.
On June 9, Wal-Mart Pride members made a presentation to more than 500 employees
at one of the company's Saturday morning meetings, which are used to rally the
company around business goals. "The presentation was warmly received,"
Williams said.
Still, some members of the group had hoped that Wal-Mart would by now have taken
a major step towards workplace equality by offering health care benefits to the
domestic partners of its GLBT employees. More than half of FORTUNE 500
companies do so.
The lesson here may be that it's hard to find a middle ground when it comes to
gay rights in the workplace. A company either believes in workplace
equality for all, and is willing to stand up and say so, or it doesn't.
It's pretty clear where Wal-Mart stands.
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