Selling Hate
Matt Thomas lays out the rainbow-crushing facts on some corporate entities who’ve got homophobia on the mind.

When gay men bring up the fact they feel powerless to affect change in today’s world of big business, slap them silly and point them to their wallets. Pink dollars are powerful dollars and in a recession they could help make or break any company. It can be hard to keep track of all the conservative businessmen with an active hate-on for gays but here are a few companies you should think twice about before giving your hard-earned paycheck to.

Rockstar Energy Drink
Rockstar Energy Drink’s motto is “party like a rockstar,” but unless you consider Fred Phelps a rock star, it’s a bullshit motto. There is a lot of controversy surrounding this company thanks to its founder, Russell Weiner and his father Michael Weiner also known as Michael Savage. Savage, considered one of the most offensive conservative voices on American talk radio, makes Rush Limbaugh look like Mr Rogers.

After Melissa Etheridge won an Oscar for Best Original Song and thanked her wife with whom she has two kids, Savage said on his radio show The Savage Nation, “I don’t like a woman married to a woman. It makes me want to puke... I want to vomit when I hear it. I think it’s child abuse.” Also on-air he called a transgender murder victim a “freak” and a “psycho.” His MSNBC television show was cancelled when he said to a gay prank caller, “You should only get AIDS and die, you pig,” then asked, “Do we have another nice caller here who’s busy because he didn’t have a nice night in the bathhouse who’s angry at me today?” According to The Huffington Post, his radio show still reaches an estimated eight million listeners on close to 400 stations in the US.

According to Rockstar’s lawyers, the same legal team that defended OJ Simpson, Michael Weiner has “never been an officer, director, employee or shareholder of Rockstar.” This was stated in a letter demanding a correction from gaywired.com, which along with other sources, alleged that Michael Weiner is a co-founder of Rockstar.

Salon.com reported that when introducing Savage at a concert, Russell Weiner shouted “I’m proud to be the son of Savage. Who’s heterosexual and proud? If you’re not, hopefully you will be soon,” then referred his dad as “our leader.” In 1996 Russell Weiner and his dad started the conservative, anti-immigrant, pro-traditional marriage Paul Revere Society and Weiner seems unapologetic for his father’s rhetoric. His mother also happens to be director, treasurer and secretary of both Rockstar and Savage Productions, her husband’s company, which oddly share the same address according to the online corporate registry of the Nevada Secretary of State. Even if Savage isn’t directly profiting from the sale of Rockstar his household is, unless Russell Weiner is making his mother work for free. These Weiners leave a bitter taste in many people’s mouths and local businesses and stores that consider themselves queer-friendly should think twice before stocking Rockstar on their shelves.

Walmart
“Diversity and inclusion are enduring values embedded into our culture. From our board of directors to our associates and customers, these values are fundamental to both our business and mission of saving people money so they can live better lives,” reads Walmart’s website. But according to knowthyneighbor.org, newly appointed Walmart CEO Mike Duke has a weird way of showing his appreciation for the value of diversity. He along with his wife Susan Duke signed an Arkansas petition to limit adoption only to married couples, effectively denying adoption to gays, who cannot legally marry in that state. Walmart also only offers same-sex benefits when required to by law and it doesn’t sell gay books inside its stores. However they do profit from the sale of a select few gay book titles on its website. In 2007 Walmart backed out of its relationship with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce after conservative Christian groups threatened a boycott. Mona Williams, then the company’s senior vice president of corporate communications, told CNN that Walmart would not make corporate contributions “to support or oppose highly controversial issues.” If you listen closely you can hear Walmart’s policy on diversity hitting the floor right along with its prices.

The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army may be a charity but that doesn’t mean it’s equally giving to everyone as it has a long history of not showing love to gays. On several websites for different branches of The Salvation Army you can find its official stance on homosexuality approved by its international headquarters as late as 2002. It reads “scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex. The Salvation Army believes, therefore, that Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively samesex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life. There is no scriptural support for same-sex unions as equal to, or as an alternative to, heterosexual marriage.” According to the San Francisco Chronicle, in 1998 “the Salvation Army said it would rather give up $3.5 million in municipal contracts than comply with the new city law requiring domestic partner benefits for gay and lesbian employees.” Throw in the fact that in Toronto in 2001 it banned transsexual women from its women’s shelters and it is a sure thing these Scrooges need a lump of coal up their stocking next time they ask for your charity coin.

Domino’s Pizza
Founder and former CEO of Domino’s Pizza, Tom Monaghan may love extra meat when it comes to toppings but that doesn’t mean he has anything in common with gays. He led and financed a 2001 ballot measure to remove sexual orientation from Ypsilanti, Michigan’s (the site of the first Domino’s Pizza) nondiscrimination ordinance. The Thomas More Law Center he co-founded successfully defended a group of male fire fighters from San Diego who claimed they were sexually harassed because they were required to participate in the city’s Pride parade. Monaghan also built his own Catholic-geared community in Florida called Ava Maria where he says “there’s not going to be any pornography sold in this town. We’re controlling the cable system. The pharmacies are not going to be able to sell condoms or dispense contraceptives.” When asked by The New Yorker about the laws in his new town, Monaghan insisted he wasn’t going to break any existing laws through his enforced limitations but when the subject of gay people living in Ava Maria came up he responded, “If there’s an openly gay couple living next door to some family, and those kids would have to be subjected to that, I don’t know.”

Although Monaghan sold his cheesy business in 1998, the CEO apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Current Domino’s head honcho David Brandon is anti-gay marriage and Domino’s still refuses to extend benefits to same-sex employees and their partners unless required to do so by law. When asked by The Michigan Daily about the addition of the phrase “gender identity and expression” to the nondiscrimination bylaws clause of a local University’s where he served as a regent, Brandon responded “I don’t understand why we continually have to have discussions about who should and who shouldn’t be included, in terms of our non-discrimination policy. I think identifying specific, special-interest groups or specific entities within the institution almost implies that unless you’re on that list, then somehow we think you should be treated differently than people who are on that list. It should not be about lists.” Sorry Domino’s but it is about lists and you make our list of unfabulous businesses.

ExxonMobil
Oil is a terrible thing for the environment but who knew it was homophobic too? With a rating of 0 on the 2008 Human Rights Campaign equality index on gay workers’ rights, ExxonMobil (owners of 69.8 percent of Imperial Oil who run the Esso brand and its gas stations in Canada) holds the pathetic title of being the largest Fortune 500 company to offer no domestic partner benefits. According to prideatwork.org, when Exxon and Mobil merged in 1999 the newly formed company chose to eliminate Mobil’s previously existing domestic partner benefits for same-sex partners rather than apply it across the board. Last year ExxonMobil shareholders voted not to include sexual orientation and gender identity in their formal corporate equal opportunity employment statement which is the only thing that protects gay and trans employees from being fired in places where LGBT nondiscrimination isn’t legally enforced. Even though their website extols how fantastic ExxonMobil is for financing Carrie Underwood’s pilgrimage to give out sleeping nets to fight malaria, something smells at ExxonMobil and it isn’t just the gasoline or crappy reality TV country music stars.

Matt Thomas is a fab associate editor who would rather burn his pink dollars then give them to homophobes.