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'We're not Sure if they've Caved In or are part of Them' Anti-Discrimination Promises, Partner Benefits Dropped |
"The right wing has been in contact with Exxon on this issue and it's influencing their language and their decision-making," said Wayne Besen, spokesman of the gay civil rights group Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in an interview today. When asked whether the HRC believed Exxon caved to pressure from Mr. Bauer and other fundamentalist politicos, he responded: "We're not certain whether they caved to them or they're part of them." In a highly-criticized move, ExxonMobil announced this week that as part of the merger between the two oil giants, it would no longer offer new partner benefits to the company's 121,000 employees (until now offered by Mobil), and that it would drop Mobil's language prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Family Research Council, a fundamentalist Christian lobby created by Mr. Bauer, praised ExxonMobil's move and revealed today that it sent a letter to Mobil CEO Lucio A. Noto in March of last year asking that domestic partner benefits be cut off to "radical" homosexuals.
Angering gay civil rights leaders even more is Exxon's explanation of what it has done. "They flat out lied," said Mr. Besen of HRC yesterday. "They have flat out lied to people about their non-discrimination policy." Exxon's customer relations department told angry customers via email the night before last that "Recent news reports stating that ExxonMobil has rescinded discrimination policies...are simply not true". The email states repeatedly that ExxonMobil opposes discrimination on "any basis," but did not say that the company's policies explicitly includes sexual orientation. Mr. Besen says ExxonMobil is not telling the truth. He points out that while ExxonMobil does have a non-discrimination policy, it does not mention gays and lesbians, and in fact the company's shareholders voted down including sexual orientation in the policy as recently as May of this year. He notes that ExxonMobil's policy chose to list other minorities by name, while excluding gays. "They are the bottom of the barrel of all the major oil companies," said Mr. Besen. "Chevron, BP, Amoco, Royal Dutch Shell, Atlantic Richfield, and Texaco all have non-discrimination policies" covering gays and lesbians. In addition, almost 3,000 companies now have domestic partner benefits. The HRC says its members are angry because the company's move signals that gay and lesbian relationships 'aren't valid,' and that the company does not value its gay and lesbian employees or customers. "We're heading towards a new millenium and no one wants to see the clock set backward," Mr. Besen said. "We haven't seen a public relations blunder of this type since the Exxon Valdez." Contact information for ExxonMobil: L.R. Raymond, CEO ExxonMobil Corp. 5959 Las Colinas Boulevard Irving, Texas 75039-2298 Phone: (972) 444-1000 Fax: (972) 444-1348 Web comments address: www.exxon.com/contact/index.html |
