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Barilla Doesn't Want Gay Customers. What Companies Are Most Homophobic?
Yesterday, the chair of Barilla, a brand of pasta that you’ve almost certainly seen in grocery and convenience stores around the U.S., said that his company’s ads would never feature gay couples, “because we like the traditional family.” He added that “If gays don’t like it, they can always eat another brand of pasta.” He quickly attempted to backtrack, explaining that he simply meant to “highlight the central role of the woman in the family,” which is apparently to cook pasta.
While everyone knows where Chick-fil-A stands, we thought it’d be worthwhile to examine other companies with a history of homophobia to see who's still bad, and who's reformed.
Pasta Baron: No Gays In Our Ads
Yesterday, the chair of Barilla, a brand of pasta that you’ve almost certainly seen in grocery and convenience stores around the U.S., said that his company’s ads would never feature gay couples, “because we like the traditional family.” He added that “If gays don’t like it, they can always eat another brand of pasta.” He quickly attempted to backtrack, explaining that he simply meant to “highlight the central role of the woman in the family,” which is apparently to cook pasta.
While everyone knows where Chick-fil-A stands, we thought it’d be worthwhile to examine other companies with a history of homophobia to see who's still bad, and who's reformed.
Salvation Army: Bad
The popular thrift shop is cheaper and less pretentious than retail clothing stores, and the presence of the word “charity” kind of suggests that you’re doing something good by shopping there. Unfortunately, Salvation Army has a history of anti-LGBT policies, most of them ostensibly motivated by its Christian faith. Amongst the offenses: Fighting alongside the Bush Administration to weaken anti-discrimination laws; threatening to leave New York City if it began offering benefits to same-sex couples; ; and posting a virulently homophobic statement on its Australian website calling for the execution of gay people.
The charity — which is the world’s largest — still denies that it’s anti-LGBT, but you know, actions speak louder than words.
Domino's Pizza: Reformed
Domino’s has long had a reputation as an anti-gay company. There’s no question that it’s founder, Tom Monaghan, opposes LGBT rights: in 2001, he financed a ballot measure to remove sexuality from a non-discrimination ordinance in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and co-founded the Thomas More Law Center, which referred to the overturning of DOMA as “ideological totalitarianism” and presses all sorts of anti-gay lawsuits.
But Mongaghan sold the company in 1998, and now has nothing to do with it, except for possibly being a shareholder. The company now offers benefits to same-sex couples, and co-sponsored a Pride parade in St. Louis two summers ago.
Exxon Mobil: Bad Bad Bad
The extent of Exxon Mobil’s anti-gay practices is almost enough to put Chick-fil-A to shame. As The Human Rights Campaign put it in their annual report on corporate LGBT policies, "ExxonMobil is the only U.S. employer that has ever rescinded both a non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation and domestic partner benefits, and is the only Fortune 10 company that does not have a non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation."
Got that? They didn’t just passively refuse to institute non-discrimination protections for LGBT folk — they actively revoked them. And while it might be tempting to bust out the “hey, all oil companies are evil” explanation, that's no excuse: Chevron received a perfect score from the Human Rights Campaign for its LGBT policies in 2011.
Urban Outfitters: Reformed
If you browsed an Urban Outfitters circa 2008, you might have assumed by the “I SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE” t-shirts that the company supported marriage equality. But the company didn’t, and pulled the shirts from shelves a week later without explanation. Here’s a possible reason: Richard Hayne, the company’s co-founder. He’s a big supporter of Rick Santorum, who’s built his political career primarily on the purported evils of homosexuality, and donated over $10,000 to Santorum’s senate campaigns.
Hayne claimed that his donations were based on Santorum’s fiscal policies, and stopped donating to Santorum after his failed 2006 Senate bid. In 2009, Urban Outfitters company started selling a different marriage equality shirt, and gave all of the proceeds to the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Equality California.
Curves: Bad
Days before the 2012 election, the (male) co-founder of this women’s-only fitness chain spent $1 million in a last-ditch effort to help propel Mitt Romney into the White House. While there are a couple of Republicans here and there who support gay rights, Perry, Romney and Boehner aren’t among them. If that wasn’t clear enough of an indicator of where the company stands, Curves once partnered with the virulently homophobic American Family Association, which has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and once called for the arrest of a gay congressman.
As if that weren't enough, Curves is also notoriously against a woman's right to choose. (Which makes the Obama administration's decision to partner with them for "National Women's Health Week" last year a little confusing.)
