Corporate opposition to LGBTQ discrimination laws shows the GOP alliance has shattered

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You’re not wrong that giant megacorporations would rather not get dragged into the anti-LGBTQ movement, or that they might even have generally unobjectionable views on the subject. (Some of my best employees, etc.)

But it’s a hell of a long way from that to a “shattered alliance.” Big businesses and the religious right are in an alliance for a reason–it’s incredibly beneficial to both of them. One provides money and savvy, the other provides votes and urgency. You get a hell of a lot more if you’ve got all four of those things working for you, and all concerned know it.

Long story short, PepsiCo and Dow Chemical cannot and should not be relied on to promote equality of any sort even when they actually favor it. It is WAY too soon to be celebrating the crackup of the Republican coalition.

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?

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Georgia


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the dwindling bigots of America

If only.

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Maybe some time in the future, these companies will step it up a notch and not only take their business out of locations where gays don’t get their first choice of wedding photographer, but also locations where gay sex is punished by execution or flogging. (edited to reduce hyperbole)

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Thanks, I was wondering what the heck was a lgbt flag on a map of SakartvĂ©lo (áƒĄáƒáƒ„áƒáƒ áƒ—áƒ•áƒ”áƒšáƒ) was doing on an article on American Politics (yeah, the USA funded the war between SakartvĂ©lo and Russia through Ossetia, but that has nothing to do with lgbt rights) then when I scrolled down, it hit me that Georgia is a Southern US state and one of the names of SakartvĂ©lo is Georgia.

It was a funny 30 seconds

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Which/Where are the megacorporations in the latter?

Rod Dreher has been writing about this repeatedly over at The American Conservative. Every article is a new attempt to attribute any kind of meaning to this shift other than the obvious untenable nature of his faith-based philosophy.

Today’s entry discusses the same article referenced here.

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Anachronistic is the key word here. There’s been a steady movement in our society towards tolerance of those different from us. It’s not universal, but the boundaries have changed. Big business sees this and adapts. Christian conservatives are stuck in Leviticus, even though Jesus himself had moved past that daddy-with-a-big-stick thing.

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Source:

Do I really have to go look up citations to show you the corporations doing business in many of the countries below?
I have edited my previous post because upon reflection, I realize that “pushed off a building” is uneccessary hyperbole.

Yemen: According to 1994 penal code, married men can be sentenced to death by stoning for homosexual intercourse. Unmarried men face whipping or one year in prison. Women face up to seven years in prison.

Iran: In accordance with sharia law, homosexual intercourse between men can be punished by death, and men can be flogged for lesser acts such as kissing. Women may be flogged.

Iraq: The penal code does not expressly prohibit homosexual acts, but people have been killed by militias and sentenced to death by judges citing sharia law.

Mauritania: Muslim men engaging in homosexual sex can be stoned to death, according to a 1984 law. Women face prison.

Nigeria: Federal law classifies homosexual behavior as a felony punishable by imprisonment, but several states have adopted sharia law and imposed a death penalty for men. A law signed in early January makes it illegal for gay people countrywide to hold a meeting or form clubs.

Qatar: Sharia law in Qatar applies only to Muslims, who can be put to death for extramarital sex, regardless of sexual orientation.

Saudi Arabia: Under the country’s interpretation of sharia law, a married man engaging in sodomy or any non-Muslim who commits sodomy with a Muslim can be stoned to death. All sex outside of marriage is illegal.

Somalia: The penal code stipulates prison, but in some southern regions, Islamic courts have imposed Sharia law and the death penalty.

Sudan: Three-time offenders under the sodomy law can be put to death; first and second convictions result in flogging and imprisonment. Southern parts of the country have adopted more lenient laws.

United Arab Emirates: Lawyers in the country and other experts disagree on whether federal law proscribes the death penalty for consensual homosexual sex or only for rape. In a recent Amnesty International report, the organization said it was not aware of any death sentences for homosexual acts. All sexual acts outside of marriage are banned.

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I’ll believe that these companies are really against discrimination when they announce that they will no longer do business in places that have the death penalty for being gay. Places like the United Arab Emirates. Same goes for entertainers. If you have ever played in Dubai or plan to - then I really don’t believe you give two shits about gay rights.

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They were fine until the common rabble got the idea that they could pass laws that actually implemented the hateful bigotry they felt. Now that it’s more than lip service, things are a little scary
but only until the rabble can be brought to heel again.

“Jobs jobs jobs!”

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They may give one.

Here is the thing - big business does not need the religious right anymore because it has the centrist middle class of the Democratic Party. The people running these businesses are more or less amoral when it comes to things like persecution of LGBTQ groups - but they do know which way the wind blows.

Springsteen and other performers generally deserve kudos for taking a stand though.

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Thanks, I was wondering what that map was.

I think that they’re missing the ring that wedded the uneasy alliance between social conservatives and big business. The join between the two is “less (federal) government.” Because when social conservative hear that, they think less intrusion of the federal government into social issues better settled by the states. So federal civil rights laws, gay marriage, Roe v. Wade, the separation of church and state and all are seen as untoward, unjustified federal intervention into local laws. Of course when the titans of Wall Street* hear it they hear “lower taxes and fewer regulations.”

*The fact that these days the only business that seems to matter all that much to the elites seems to be the money pushing business rather than the making stuff business is an exercise left for another time.

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Well, more ATL, which has a thriving and politically vocal LBGQT community
 but Deal did veto the discriminatory bill that other states passed, based on threatened boycotts. So, there is that.

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I’m unsure what that has to do with gay rights in the US and legislation that actively promotes discrimination. It’s okay to put up with discrimination because people in Saudi Arabia have it worse?

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American corporations should be more concerned about people in other countries than in current and potential employees and customers in America?

“Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.”

  • Goethe
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