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Wal-Mart Bans Discrimination Against Homosexual Employees NewsMax.com WiresSEATTLE – Wal-Mart Stores, the the world's biggest company by revenue and the nation's largest private employer, has quietly expanded its anti-discrimination policy to protect homosexual employees. The decision was hailed by gay rights groups, as a sign of how far corporate America has come in accepting homosexual employees, the New York Times reports. The decision was first disclosed by a Seattle gay rights foundation that had invested in Wal-Mart and lobbied the company for two years. Pride Foundation and investment management firms holding stock in Wal-Mart had met as shareholders with company officials to discuss the policy. Wal-Mart officials confirmed the policy change Tuesday but said that although the foundation played a role, the most important factor in the decision was a letter from several gay employees that said without the change the employees would "continue to feel excluded." "It's the right thing to do for our employees," said Mona Williams, Wal-Mart's vice president for communications. "We want all of our associates to feel they are valued and treated with respect — no exceptions. And it's the right thing to do for our business." She said that the company was sending a letter today to its 3,500 stores and that store managers would convey the new policy to the company's more than 1 million employees. "Wal-Mart has been careful not to alienate its customers who might hold conservative views," the Times reported. "In recent months, the company has decided to stop selling three men's magazines it said were too racy and to partially obscure the covers of four women's magazines on sale in checkout lines. The company said customers felt the magazine cover headlines were too provocative and planned to use U-shaped blinders to cover them." Wal-Mart has also decided not to sell CDs with labels warning of explicit lyrics.
"In each case, we sit down and think through the individual decisions," Williams said. "Putting in the blinders was the right thing to do. In this case, once again, we talked about it and decided it was the right thing to do."
The Associated Press noted, "Gay rights groups have made significant headway in recent weeks, particularly as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down a Texas sodomy law." Copyright 2003 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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