Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Pam Spaulding has a post up about the most Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign. As in previous years, the report documents a major increase in efforts by corporations to provide benefits and protections to gay and lesbian employees. 138 major companies received a perfect 100 rating from HRC, as opposed to 101 in 2005. Pam is absolutely right when she says:
While our government, which is supposed to represent us, drags its feet on civil equality and fairness, corporate America is the one venue where equality for LGBT citizens has been on a constant, positive trajectory.
I also like this statement:
Just a few of the top 100: Adobe, Apple, Best Buy, American Express, Bristol-Myers, Chevron, BP, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, DaimlerChrysler, GM (gee, Don's been wasting all his time on Ford, which is also on the list), Kodak, Sears, Sprint, Wells Fargo, Whirlpool, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Northrup Grumman, ConEd. The list goes on and on. Soon there won't be anywhere the fundies can shop or do business, without supporting The Homosexual Agendatm.
Indeed. Even Walmart isn't safe anymore. Yes, Donald Wildmon, the gays really are ubiquitous. And they're coming for you. They work at some of the places you shop at and frequent. They cook your food, they load your cart, they build your cars, they write your mortgage and they service your computer. You better move to Pakistan of you might catch The Gay.
Update: Naturally, the Worldnutdaily doesn't like this one bit. They claim that corporate American is trying to "promote" the "gay lifestyle", which points up one of the problems with the typical thought patterns of the anti-gay religious right: any policy that does anything good for gay people is viewed as "promoting" homosexuality. If a company decides there's no reason to fire a good employee just because they're gay, they're "promoting" homosexuality. Of course, they don't apply such reasoning consistently. No one claims that not discriminating against religion "promotes" religion.
Comments
I crack up every time I hear someone use the term "The Gay". Seriously though, who in their right mind thinks they can insulate themselves from people different than they? Who would want to?
Posted by: Russell Claus | September 20, 2006 10:08 AM
Now, I think I understand why there was the sudden impulse to monastic living in the 4th Century: Greek culture was saturated with gayness. The only escape was to be cloistered with a few other hardy, unwashed men in a remote location. Hmmm. "Now let's open up a school for boys, so we can share the Love of God...".
Posted by: kehrsam | September 20, 2006 10:32 AM
Kehrsam,
Your comment makes me think of the scene in Saved! where the one kid is sent to a Christian reformatory to cure his gayness and he's talking about his roommate with a sly smile, "Oh he's in for the same reason as me..."
Posted by: Russell Claus | September 20, 2006 10:40 AM
Russell - You don't understand, The Gay is contagious. Spend enough time with gays and, sometimes quite suddenly, you might feel like their actually human. You might even become very close to some of them and that could lead to flying rainbow flags, taking your children to festivals and parades, positively chock full of The Gay, or even showing your support of The Gay in the voting booth. If you don't insulate yourself, well, you might just be open minded.
Posted by: DuWayne | September 20, 2006 10:40 AM
Worldnutdaily has a poll along with the aritcle titled "How does corporate support for the homosexual agenda impact your buying decisions?" My favorite choice is this one...."I'll avoid them, and I'm amazed how corporate America bends over for so few people"
I like it when they bend over for me :-)
Posted by: Tulle | September 20, 2006 11:32 AM
Is this not the essence of arguments made by those who have opposed allowing Bible clubs to meet on school grounds? See, e.g., Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, 496 U.S. 226 (1990). Perhaps I have misunderstood you.
Posted by: Ramsey Wilson | September 20, 2006 2:43 PM
Ramsey Wilson wrote:
No, I don't think that is the substance of the argument against the Bible club in Mergens (an argument I think was wrong, by the way). The argument there concerned an implicit message of endorsement, not promotion. That case also involved government, not business. I've never heard anyone claim that if a business doesn't fire people because of their religion, they are therefore "promoting religion".
Posted by: Ed Brayton | September 20, 2006 3:14 PM
Thanks very much for clarifying, Ed. Ed wrote:
That makes two of us. Ed also wrote:
I didn't appreciate that you were distinguishing between promotion and endorsement.
Posted by: Ramsey Wilson | September 20, 2006 4:27 PM
I clicked on the "How the homosexual agenda affects your family" link at the end of the WorldNut article and it was an ad for a book!
So, I STILL don't know how the homosexual agenda affects my family! lol But then, I never did BECAUSE IT DOESN'T AFFECT MY FAMILY, hello!?
Posted by: twincats | September 20, 2006 7:13 PM