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| Focus on the Family, led by James Dobson, wants consumers to avoid companies that are ‘promoting the radical homosexual agenda.’ |
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HOME > VIEWPOINT > ACTION! ALERT
By: DYANA BAGBY
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IF IMMITATION IS the sincerest form of flattery, the Human Rights Campaign must be doing something right.
Each year, the nation’s largest gay political group releases its Corporate Equality Index, scoring companies based on gay and transgender-related policies such as offering domestic partner benefits and including “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in non-discrimination statements.
In late November, HRC’s antithesis, the anti-gay Focus on the Family, released a copycat list. The Colorado-based group designed a chart of companies it ranks as being “trailblazers in promoting homosexuality and family redefinition.”
Not only does the Focus chart offer rankings similar to HRC, it acknowledges coming up with its data by using information from the HRC’s index.
But Daryl Herrschaft, author of HRC’s 2005 report, said the group isn’t concerned about the new use for its data.
“We appreciate the extra publicity,” Herrschaft said. “But this is just another desperate attempt for right wing groups to find some relevance for themselves in corporate America.
“They are grasping at straws to move an unstoppable force — that the recognition of equality for GLBT people in the workplace is good for business and for the country,” he said.
Focus on the Family officials did not respond to interview requests.
ACCORDING TO THE FOCUS ON THE Family website, the group’s rankings are designed to alert readers to companies “leading the charge to reengineer society and bring about the normalization of homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism and a fundamentally redefined family structure.”
The higher the company’s number, the more aggressive involvement it has in “promotion of anti-family policies” and “promoting the radical homosexual agenda,” according to Focus on the Family.
JP Morgan Chase received the highest score, 19. Companies scoring 17 included Wells Fargo, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Levi Strauss and Citigroup. Others ranking high include Ford (15); Capital One, Charles Schwab, AT&T (all with 14); and Bank of America, Days Inn, Super 8 and Coldwell Banker (all with 13).
Mutual of Omaha and 3M Company both earned the lowest score of 3.
FOCUS’ CORPORATE RANKINGS were released Nov. 30 and coincided with news that the group broke its banking ties with San Francisco-based Wells Fargo on Dec. 1.
Focus President and CEO Jim Daly said in a statement the decision to dump Wells Fargo came after the financial institution contributed $50,000 to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
“[We] feel that the aggressive agenda of the homosexual movement and its activists is harmful to families, and we believe it is time to stand up and fight that,” Daly said in a statement.
Wells Fargo spokesperson Melissa Morey said this week that the bank chain has no plan to change its policies or corporate giving.
“We regret having lost Focus on the Family as a valued customer. However, Wells Fargo firmly believes it is our responsibility to serve every segment of our community and we view our support for the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender community as part of our broader commitment to diversity,” Morey said.
The $50,000 donation to GLAAD was just one of the 15,000 non-profit organizations to which Wells Fargo contributed a combined total of nearly $100 million this year, she added.
Glennda Testone, spokesperson for GLAAD, called Focus on the Family’s action against Well Fargo “another attempt by an anti-gay group to try and intimidate companies into not supporting or doing business with gays and lesbians.”
“Thankfully, corporate America knows that discriminating against a group of people based on who they love is not only bad for business, it’s just plain wrong,” Testone said in a written statement.
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