Wal-Mart rescinds
support of LGBT organizations

Heeding the threat of a boycott by Christian groups and the disapproval of many employees, mega-retailer Wal-Mart has opted to stop supporting LGBT organizations, Fortune magazine's online site reported Friday.

"We are not currently planning corporate-level contributions to GLBT groups," Mona Williams, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of corporate communications, told the magazine. She also cited a Wal-Mart policy penned last year that prohibits "support[ing] or oppos[ing] highly controversial issues."

The decision comes only a year after Wal-Mart joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, an organization of 24,000 gay- and lesbian-owned businesses, and cosponsored the Out & Equal workplace rights group.

"I thought the company was moving in the right direction," one Wal-Mart employee wrote in an e-mail to Fortune. "But last week changed everything. Pulling funding from GLBT organizations is a slap in the face to gay employees, and it sends a very clear message. Diversity within Wal-Mart is only partially inclusive."

Williams said that Wal-Mart will be no less supportive of its LGBT personnel. In fact, many sources indicated to Fortune that Wal-Mart is working harder to educate employees about LGBT-related issues.

"We certainly don't feel [the decision] is a retrenchment," Williams also said.

Selisse Berry, director of Out & Equal, concurred.

"Wal-Mart continues to engage on the issue of worker equality, and we will support them in that....This is a marathon, not a sprint, and so long as Wal-Mart keeps its doors open, we hope to give them encouragement," she said in the article. (The Advocate)