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Promoted by 40 GLBT Organizations |
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Compiled By GayToday Human Rights Campaign
"This campaign against the corporate irresponsibility of ExxonMobil is gaining momentum and will only continue to expand," said activist Julian Potter, who is coordinating the coalition. Potter, former White House liaison to the GLBT community, was hired last year by the Human Rights Campaign to help manage its call for a boycott of ExxonMobil. As a result of Potter's efforts, the boycott broadened into a wider call for basic equality for GLBT workers at ExxonMobil, and a growing coalition of concerned Americans has endorsed its goals. "The participation of these key statewide groups will give our campaign a jolt of energy, increase the number of supporters for the shareholder resolution campaign, the boycott and other measures, and put ExxonMobil on notice that our community's efforts are intensifying," Potter added.
The Coalition to Promote Equality at ExxonMobil, formed in October 2001 at the 11th annual Out & Equal Workplace Summit, consolidates the independent efforts of seven national organizations that have been employing a variety of means to convince the giant oil company to include sexual orientation and gender identity in its written non-discrimination policy and to provide domestic partnership benefits for its employees. The seven national partners of the coalition are: The Equality Project; Human Rights Campaign; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; National Transgender Advocacy Coalition; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; Pride at Work and Out & Equal Workplace Advocates. The coalition's efforts focus on two main initiatives led by national coalition partners the Equality Project, a shareholder activist group based in New York, and HRC, the largest national GLBT political organization, based in Washington. For four years, the Equality Project has mounted campaigns asking shareholders to approve a resolution that urged first Exxon and now ExxonMobil to amend its written equal employment opportunity policy to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. On June 11, 2001, HRC announced a nationwide boycott of Exxon and Mobil gas stations and asks consumers to cut up their ExxonMobil credit cards, sending half to ExxonMobil and half to HRC. "For the last several years, the New York City comptroller has been lead filer of the shareholder resolution urging ExxonMobil to reverse it stance. This reflects the fact that New Yorkers -- whether they be straight or gay -- overwhelmingly reject anti-gay discrimination in any form," said Joe Grabarz, executive director of New York's Empire State Pride Agenda, another coalition member. "The lesbian and gay community in New York is strongly behind his efforts and is glad to join with other LGBT statewide groups to let ExxonMobil know that there is a broad base of opposition throughout the country to its anti-gay bigotry." "We are proud to join the coalition because we believe anti-gay discrimination is wrong," said Sean Kosofsky, director of policy for Triangle Foundation, Michigan's statewide LGBT organization. "ExxonMobil's policies directly affect the livelihood of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. A person's sexual orientation has nothing to do with their merit and should not be a factor in employment. In a world where you have to work to survive, no one should lose their job or be denied equal pay for equal work because of who they are. If ExxonMobil does not prohibit anti-gay discrimination, then they permit it. We will be telling our members to stop fueling discrimination." The new statewide groups that have joined the coalition are: Action Wisconsin: A Congress for Human Rights Arizona Human Rights Fund Arkansas Equality Network Basic Rights Oregon California Alliance for Pride and Equality Cimarron Alliance Group Coalition for Equality in New Mexico Connecticut Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Civil Rights Empire State Pride Agenda Equal Rights Colorado Equal Rights Nevada Equality Florida Equality Mississippi Equality North Carolina Equality Tennessee Fairness Lobby Freedom Coalition of Lawrence, Kansas Free State Justice Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Alabama Gender Identity Center of Colorado It's Time, Illinois! Lesbian and Gay Rights Lobby of Texas Louisiana Lesbian and Gay Political Action Caucus Maine Lesbian Gay Political Alliance Michigan Equality Mississippi Gay and Lesbian Alliance New Mexico Gender Advocacy Information Network New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA) PRIDE Inc. (Montana) PROMO (Missouri) Rhode Island Alliance for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition Triangle Foundation TS/TG Society United Gays and Lesbians of Wyoming Inc. Unity Utah Vermont Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights Virginians for Justice West Virginia Lesbian and Gay Coalition. Your Family, Friends, and Neighbors, Speak Out Idaho! Project |
HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch cuts ExxonMobil card at June 13 news conference in Washington, D.C. 