Rolling Back Progress

With the release of the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) “Buying for Equality 2008” guide, shoppers are reminded that when it comes to human rights, Wal-Mart is lagging far behind the competition. Wal-Mart’s total score of 40 out of 100 gives the company a “red” rating reflecting that it offers no domestic partner benefits and its discrimination policy does not include gender identity and expression.

Other major retailers like Kmart, Best Buy, and Borders received HRC’s “green” rating with the highest score of 100. Costco received a “green” rating of 93. These scores reflect company policies that support gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) individuals including anti-discrimination protections, domestic partner benefits, diversity training, and transgender wellness benefits. As the world’s largest retailer, why can’t Wal-Mart achieve what these other companies have achieved?

In not dealing with GLBT concerns, Wal-Mart cites its policy to avoid “highly controversial issues”. Why is equality a controversial issue for Wal-Mart? Is it because Wal-Mart’s non-inclusive policies promote discrimination and the continuance of GLBT people as second class citizens? If so, then I agree there is a controversy – but it’s not about sexuality or gender identity, it’s about a culture of intolerance bred by Wal-Mart corporate policy. For more on Wal-Mart’s GLBT policy see our factsheet “Wal-Mart’s Stalled GLBT Policies”.

Gay rights group raises red flag on Wal-Mart policies [USA Today]

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights group, is giving Wal-Mart (WMT) a red “do not buy” rating in its new consumer guide, bestowing a lump of coal on the retail giant just in time for the holiday shopping season.

Citing Wal-Mart’s refusal to offer domestic partner benefits to its gay and lesbian workers, the HRC said Tuesday that the USA’s biggest private employer has “more work to do in furthering equality.” It advised gays and their supporters to shop elsewhere.

Wal-Mart rated a red 40 on a scale of 100, down from a yellow 65 in 2006. It was among 54 companies that scored 45 or lower in HRC’s 2008 Corporate Equality index, which assigns ratings to 519 large companies. Also in the red: Toys R Us, RadioShack (RSH) and AutoZone (AZO).

Wal-Mart rival Target (TGT) rated a “green” 80, meaning that “consumers should make every effort to support these businesses.”

Wal-Mart has bucked a corporate trend of expanding benefits for gay employees, says Daryl Herrschaft, director of HRC’s workplace project. He says two Fortune 500 companies offered domestic partner benefits, comparable to spouse benefits, in 1990. Today, 269 do.

“We’re proud of our diversity initiatives and we think we are taking the right steps,” Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar says.

HRC’s low rating comes as Wal-Mart has been enjoying positive publicity about its move this fall to offer better health coverage to more of its 1.4 million U.S. workers.

The company had been pummeled by unions and some state legislators who said it was offering unaffordable health insurance plans.

Herrschaft says Wal-Mart had been moving toward more gay-friendly practices. In 2003, the company added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy.

In December 2005, HRC executives were invited to the first of two meetings at the company’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. On the agenda: the intricacies of implementing domestic partner benefits.

Conservative groups angered by Wal-Mart contributions to gay organizations threatened a boycott, and in June, the company announced a policy to avoid “highly controversial issues.” Talks on gay benefits ended, Herrschaft says.

Wal-Mart is “moving in reverse on equal treatment of their employees and their gay and lesbian consumers,” Herrschaft says.

Tovar, the Wal-Mart spokesman, says he will not “speculate” on whether the rating would hurt holiday sales.

Last year’s guide was downloaded from the group’s website (http://www.hrc.org/buyersguide) more than 250,000 times.