[Clipping: 'Pro-gay' corporations are under fire] Part: 1 of 2
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'Pro-gay'
Continued from Page 1G.
Texas-based Fortune 500 companies:
American Airlines, Central & South
West Corp. of Dallas, Greyhound
Lines Inc. of Dallas, Exxon Corp. of
Irving, Kimberly-Clark Corp. of Irv-
ing, Tandy Corp. of Fort Worth, Dell
Computer Corp. of Austin, SBC Com-
munications Inc. of San Antonio and
Temple-Inland Inc. of Diboll.
Except for American, none of
those corporations is targeted by the
protesters.
The report also identified 313 em-
ployers that allow same-sex domes-
tic partner benefits and 103 compa-
nies with gay and lesbian support
groups.
The protesters said they would
eventually target about a dozen of
what they considered the worst of-
fenders among the corporations on
the Human Rights Campaign list.
Among the likely targets, Mr. Knight
said, are American Express Co. and
IBM Corp.
"They're using our research to
somehow get companies to turn back
the clock," said Kim Mills, spokes-
woman for the Human Rights Cam-
paign. "It's not working.... When
you see companies like IBM extend-
ing domestic partnership benefits,
the groundswell is, I think, unstop-
pable."
Ms. Mills said efforts by conser-
vative groups will not deter the Hu-
man Rights Campaign.
"If they want to go down this road
and urge their members to boycott
businesses that believe in equal treat-
ment in the workplace, their fol-
lowers are going to end up living
naked in caves because they will not
be able to buy products in this coun-
try," she said.
The Human Rights Campaign al-
so monitors discrimination against
gays and lesbians, which it says is still
rampant despite workplace gains. Ms.
Mills said gays are simply asking for
equal treatment.
American Airlines has a written
policy that forbids discrimination
based on sexual orientation. The
company also has an employee group
for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and
transsexuals.
Conservative Christians are par-
ticularly angered by American Air-
lines' advertising in gay magazines
such asOutand marketing travel ser-
vices to gays and lesbians. The com-
pany's marketing department also
targets other specialized groups, in-
cluding African-Americans and His-
panics.
The letter -writing protest is spon-corporations are under fire
sored by Gary Bauer's Family Re-
search Council, which has about
300,000 members and is connected
with the Colorado Springs-based Fo-
cus on the Family; Donald Wildmon's
American Family Association, based
in Tupelo, Miss., with about 600,000
members; Beverly LaHaye's Wash-
ington-based Concerned Women for
America, with 600,000 on its mailing
list; and the Rev. D. James Kennedy's
Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort Laud-
erdale, Fla., with an estimated week-
ly broadcast audience of 3 million.
The Southern Baptist Conven-
tion, which has about 15 million
members, signed onto the protest this
week.
Arguing that "active homosexu-
ality is dangerous," the letter-writers
warned that American is "risking an
increase in major health problems"
by sanctioning homosexual behav-
ior.
Across Dallas and Fort Worth, oth-
er groups are working to slow the
progress of gay rights, including re-
gional outposts of the American Fam-
ily Association, Focus on the Family,
Family Research Council and the
Rutherford Institute. Much of their
focus is on corporate policies that
they say display indifference and
sometimes even contempt for their
beliefs.
"Evangelicals are feeling more
endangerment," said Kelly Shack-
leford, the Dallas-based southwest re-
gional coordinator for the Ruther-
ford Institute, a conservative legal
advocacy firm. "It's a response to be-
ing crowded out of the culture, the
feeling of danger from the fact of not
being able to speak your mind. When
everyone's truth is equal, then there's
no truth."
Mr. Shackleford said that in the
past five months he has received calls
from people who have lost jobs be-
cause of their religious beliefs op-
posing homosexuality.
"It is no longer acceptable to hold
a dogmatic position in public with
regard to your religion," he said. "The
response is 'How dare you?' But truth
excludes. Jesus said, 'I am the way,
the truth and the light.' That's a very
exclusive statement."
Mike Davis is an accountant
working in Dallas for Mobil, based
in Fairfax, Va.. He describes himself
as a "very conservative" Christian.
He is angry about what he sees as the
inroads that gays are making in cor-
porate America - so angry that he's
written memos to his bosses about
his disapproval of homosexuality.
"I believe we should be tolerant,"Evangelicals are feeling
more endangerment. It's a
response to being crowded
out of the culture, the
feeling of danger from the
fact of not being able to
speak your mind. When
everyone's truth is equal,
then there's no truth."
- Kely Shackleford,
Rutherford Institute
but we shouldn't be forced to accept
their beliefs," Mr. Davis said. "The
companies are giving that group of
people special rights, and by doing
that, they're saying to people of faith
their viewpoint isn't as important as
other viewpoints."
Other Christians see their faith
differently.
Bishop William Swing of the Epis-
copal Diocese of California in San
Francisco said his Christianity com-
pels him to believe in a loving, tol-
erant God.
"I don't think Jesus says no one
goes to heaven except heterosexuals
or people in one religion," said Bish-
op Swing. "It's an enormous pre-
sumption to take over the role of judg-
ment. I think a little humility in the
face of Judgment Day is a healthy
thing."
A prominent gay pastor said that
is also his understanding of God.
"One of the things the Christian
faith should promote is mutuality
and tolerance," said the Rev. Michael
Piazza, senior pastor at Cathedral of
Hope in Dallas, the largest predom-inantly gay congregation in the
world. "They have a right to their be-
liefs but not to impose them on oth-
ers. Itseems to me they're advocat-
ing for special rights for married het-
erosexual people."
The workplace diversity debate
had its start more than 20 years ago.
In 1975, AT&T, based in Basking
Ridge, N.J., became the first corpo-
ration to include sexual of ientation
in its nondiscrimination policy. In
later years, the company added a sup-
port group for gays and lesbians. The
company was also a sponsor of the
Gay Olympic Games in 1994.
As a result, AT&T has probably
drawn the most ferocious anger from
the religious right among all U.S. cor-
porations. And it has the distinction
of being the only company, so far,
with a direct competitor sponsored
by the religious right. Five years ago,
conservative Christians set up Life-
Line, a long-distance service based
in Oklahoma City that is bent on dri-
ving AT&T out of business.
AT&T spokesman Burke Stinson
said the corporation isn't concerned
about its employees' beliefs. "But we
do care about y ou: be, vior in th
workplace. We want you to treat oth-
ers the way you want to be treated."
AT&T employees are not forced
to go to diversity training, and those
who do go are not forced to stay if the
discussion gets uncomfortable, Mr.
Stinson said.
"I would say we've grown wiser
in all our diversity areas," he said.
But that may not be enough.
"Homosexuality is an issue that
has people pushing on both sides, and
when that happens, it's almost like
two flintstones rubbing together,"
he said. "There are going to be
sparks."First Service 7:00 am
Special Music:Tramaine Hawkins,
The Potter's House Mass Choir, and
The Potter's House Visions Ministry
gig[I II.
Attire: Casual The 7:00 pm Service
(featuring a mini-concert by the Mass Choir & drama
presentation of "THE MERCY SEAT" by the VISIONS
MINISTRY) will be held at THE POTTER'S HOUSE,
Tramaine Hawkins 6777 W. Kiest Blvd., Dallas, TexasBsop T.D. Jakrs;A~>
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Newspaper clipping from The Dallas Morning News featuring an article about conservative religious groups arguing against corporate diversity programs.
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[Clipping: 'Pro-gay' corporations are under fire], clipping, 1997; (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc947715/m1/1/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.