Nordstrom: Another major retailer supports marriage equality
For those of you that missed it this past week, Nordstrom adds their name to the growing list of businesses that have spoken out in favor of marriage equality:
With respect to our gay and lesbian employees, Nordstrom was an early adopter of adding sexual orientation to our anti-discrimination policy, which means we guarantee the same legal rights and protections in our workplace to gay and lesbian employees just as we do for other employees regardless of sex, race, color, creed, national origin, religion, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical, mental or sensory disability, and gender identity.
…
We feel the next step in this journey is to now support freedom to marry, also called marriage equality. There is a lot of awareness of this issue across the country and we’ve heard from many employees and customers. We gave this thoughtful consideration and felt the time was right to come out in support of this civil rights issue. It is our belief that our gay and lesbian employees are entitled to the same rights and protections marriage provides under the law as our other employees.
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Blake Nordstrom, President, Nordstrom, Inc
Pete Nordstrom, President of Merchandising, Nordstrom
Erik Nordstrom, President of Stores, Nordstrom
To read the complete letter and to see GLAAD’s coverage, check out GLAAD’s blog.
Nordstrom joins the likes of Starbucks, Google, Amazon.com, Microsoft, T-Mobile, REI, Nike and many other Washington businesses that support marriage equality.
REI supports marriage equality
Yet another company has come out in support of marriage equality in Washington state! Outdoor retailer, REI, announced their support through a blog post to the company’s 11,000 employees. CEO and President Sally Jewell had this to share:
Marriage equality is important to the co-op because the benefits, legal clarity and societal understanding that Warren and I have enjoyed these past 34 years should be available to any two people who want to express their love and make a permanent commitment to each other that is so clearly provided for in the legal definition of marriage.
REI joins the likes of Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft and other companies with a large presence in Washington state that have come out in favor of marriage equality.
Hey Minnesota CEOs, I think it may be time…
NOM Loses Ground
An interesting article that talks about how groups like the National Organization for Marriage are losing ground in the fight for marriage equality. The author talks about several big companies that have come out in support of gay rights and how NOM has had little impact to sway those decisions. According to the story:
…the Human Rights Campaign launched a petition in support of General Mills [for their opposition to the marriage amendment]. To date, more than 70,000 people have signed HRC’s petition.
In contrast, NOM launched a petition denouncing General Mills, which so far has been backed by only 17,000 people, nearly five times fewer than HRC’s petition.
In addition to General Mills, the article talks about Starbucks as well:
When Seattle-based Starbucks, a coffee titan, opposed the anti-gay amendment, NOM called for a boycott of the company. A “Thank You Starbucks” Web campaign received more than 650,000 supporters, while NOM’s “Dump Starbucks” campaign has received about 45,000.
Could this be a sign that NOM’s influence is waning across the country? Is it a sign that organizations are becoming more willing to stand up against these mean-spirited measures regardless of backlash from the other side? As a Minnesotan, and a voter that will be saying NO this NOvember, I hope that this change of tide is in time to help us defeat the amendment in the fall. We’ve already seen several Minnesota businesses take a stand opposing the amendment, let’s rally on many more!
Starbucks and Gay Marriage
Well, it’s been an interesting couple of weeks for those watching the gay marriage saga in the US. Earlier this year, Starbucks came out in support of marriage equality in Washington State. Since that time, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), has launched into attack mode against Starbucks (you remember NOM, that crazy organization that promotes ex-gay therapy and funnels millions of dollars into states that are facing marriage amendments, yeah, that NOM).
At a Starbucks’ shareholders meeting earlier this month, NOM’s director of corporate fairness project, Jonathan Baker, asked about the decision to support marriage equality. When CEO Howard Schultz shared that it was in no way a difficult decision for the board to make, NOM didn’t like that.
As a result, a “Dump Starbucks” campaign was launched asking for signatures from those also outraged at Starbucks’ decision to support marriage equality for same-sex couples. As of April 1, the pledge has received over 25,000 pledges.
Ok, so 25,000 is a lot of people threatening to dump Starbucks. On the other hand, another campaign was launched via SumOfUs.org to thank Starbucks for their support of gay marriage. I’m happy to share that as of April 1, this petition has received over 463,000 signatures. Nearly 20 times the number of signatures that the NOM-supported petition has received.
At the end of the day, the message is clear: Big Business can speak out in support of marriage equality and not fear retaliation. Starbucks spokesman Zack Hutson shared that the organization is “not seeing any impact” in regards to the boycott. In fact, the SumOfUs petition and social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter, have been all abuzz with people standing up for Starbucks. While not necessarily the plan, that’s pretty good PR. Supporting gay marriage actually may end up helping them sell more of their delicious treats.
Note: You can say “thank you” to Strabucks in many ways. Stop by your local store and thank your baristas, share this post with your friends on social media sites or simply sign your name to the SumOfUs page and help reach the goal of 500,000 signatures.
Nationwide Boycott of Starbucks?
One pastor thinks it’s time to boycott Starbucks because they have signed on to support marriage equality in the state of Washington. In fact, Pastor Steven Andrew goes as far as to say:
Starbucks can follow Satan if they want to.
Source: King5 News
Yup. This is what we’re up against people. Ignorance and hate is getting so old. Keep up the great work, Washington State, and Congrats to you!
Washington Businesses Coalition Support Marriage Equality
Thought it might be neat for folks to see just all of the companies that are getting behind Washington State in their push for marriage equality. Kudos to them all!
16 Copenhagen
A New Chapter
Adrift Hotel
Alcoa, Inc.
American Family Insurance
Area 58 Fine Art
Atticus Coffee & Gifts
Attorney at Law, P.S.
Barbara Grant Consulting Group
Big Mario’s Pizza
Bimbos Cantina
Bizible
Blue Moon Burgers
Boo Radley’s
BrandQuery LLC
BrandQuery, LLV
Business Diversity Counseling Services
Capitol Florist
Central Physical Therapy & Fitness, Inc.
CG Tech Services, Inc.
Cha Cha Lounge
Choke Shirt Company and Prints
Chris Porter Medical
Clean Air Lawn Care
Conner Remodeling &Design, INC.
Connors and Company
Concur
Cordova Law Firm
Cupcake Royale
Dani Weiss Photography
DBL Property Maintenance
DML Insurance Services, Inc.
Elliot Bay Book Co.
Freeman LLC
Fun Fitness
Fuzed Travel
Group Health Plan
Go Green Directory
Google
Havana
Hillside Quickie Restaurants
Inn at Discovery Coast
Integrated Financial Group
James Braden
Jason Rumohr
JSW Ventures
Juju
Kelly Printing & Graphics
Kill Rock Stars
Kings Hardware
Lagoma Lodge
Law Office of Allen Draher, PLLC
LGBTQ Counseling Servicecs
Liberty Cafe
Local 360
Local Grown Cafe
Local Roots Farm
Microsoft
Moe Bar
Mx2 Computer Consulting
Nike
Northmoon Artistic Creations
Onto Entertainment
Out There Monthly: The Inland NW Guide to Outdoor Recreation
Pacific Forest Resources
Pike Street Fish Fry
Poquitos
Portland Area Business Association
Precision Door Service
Rain City Entertainment
Real Networks
Ric-O-Shay
Screenplay, Inc.
Seattle Cigar Expo
Seattle Gay News
Seattle Interactive Conference
Seattle Popcorn Company Inc. DBA Uncle Woddy’s Caramel Corn
Seattle Restaurant Alliance
Seattle Tattoo Expo
Serendipity Catering
Skylark Cafe & Club
Spitfire Bar & Grill
Spokane Wireless Inc.
Starbucks
Stoel Rives
Tango Restaurant
The 5 Point Café
The Clark Company
The Crocodile
The Red Door
The Saint
The Wedding Gentleman
Thinking Cap Communications & Design
ThirdPlanet Productions
Thom’s Hand-Brewed Coffee
True North, PLLC
Tula’s Restaurant and Jazz Club
Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria
Unicorn Bar
Verite Coffee
Vista Diagnostics International
Vulcan
Wed4Less Northwest
Whidbey Wayfarer Farm
Wild Sage American Bistro
Zenith Diversity
Source: King5.com
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Tweets
- Check out what a visitor to the site asked me to pass along to Father Mike Tegeder. RT if you agree. #minnesota #voteno
http://t.co/4iqhrFX211/09/2012 - #Minnesota nice? Yeah, we #voteno twice! Congratulations to to Minnesota for standing on the right side of history!11/07/2012
- #Minnesota #marriageamendment 78% reporting. #voteno at 50%; yes side has 49%. It's going to be a while before we call this one...11/07/2012
- #Minnesota #marriageamendment 47% reporting. Spread narrows. #voteno side still at 49%; yes side has increased their support to 47%.11/07/2012
- Check out what a visitor to the site asked me to pass along to Father Mike Tegeder. RT if you agree. #minnesota #voteno
