Tag Archives: business

An Arizona woman has filed suit against Avis, alleging that the car rental giant violates California’s law against sexual orientation discrimination when if offers discounts to LGBT groups. Dave Rice reports at San Diego Reader: Lynn Evenchik claims that Avis’ practice of offering discounts to members of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association and National Gay and Lesbian Chamber …

Local Texas officials say the offer is legal. But a few commenters on the linked news story cite the Federal Civil Rights Act, which guarantees all people the right to “full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, …

Failed politician and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has been hired to run the foundering HP, who last month pulled the plug on their brand new line of tablets. Whitman replaces current CEO Leo Apotheker after a short-lived,11-month stint, as the Silicon Valley giant continued its steep decline in both profit and investor confidence. HP not only suffers from poor …

Poor Groupon. Aside from being one of the most over-hyped and destined to flameout internet companies since Kozmo, they face hordes of competitors who have not only jumped on their concept, but use similar names as well. Via Techcrunch, here’s the backstory on Gaypon: Before becoming a Gaypon merchant, businesses are put through a background check of sorts, where they …

Masterbeat.com, the popular gay-owned dance music commercial download site, ceased operations on Sunday.

AmericaBlog Gay reports on the backers of yesterday’s ban on LGBT rights in Tennessee. The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce – chaired by Nissan, and whose other board members include such companies as FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare – actively lobbied for a religious right bill in the Tennessee …

Microsoft has agreed to purchase Skype for $8.5B. The acquisition will “increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities,” Microsoft said. Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and an array of Windows devices. Microsoft will also connect Skype …

Earlier this month Nashville’s city council approved a law banning the city from doing business with companies that discriminate against their LGBT employees. Yesterday the GOP-dominated state House voted to overturn that law. The measure sponsored by Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada of Franklin was approved 73-24 on Monday. The companion bill is awaiting a vote in the Senate State …

AT&T is buying the U.S. division of T-Mobile in a $39B deal that will create the nation’s largest cell phone company. If completed, the deal would allow AT&T, now the second- largest U.S. wireless operator, to add 34 million customers and surpass Verizon Wireless as the largest in the country. The acquisition, the largest in the wireless industry since 2004, …

In today’s top-of-site story, World Net Daily takes a break from its usual “Obama is a Marxist Kenyan” routine to trumpet the virtues of companies that scored poorly on the Human Rights Campaign’s Buying Guide for Corporate Equality. When it comes to automotive service in America, Pep Boys may be among the best-known brands, but the company is doing absolutely …

After suffering through a long year of negative press and calls for boycotts over their sizable donation to an anti-gay group, Target has published new guidelines to corporate giving. The new policies appear to install tighter executive review of proposed donations. The Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson reports: Jessica Carlson, spokesperson for Target, said the change was enacted within the last …

(Via – Wall Street Journal)

The rest are here.

San Francisco’s four Gold’s Gyms announced on Facebook today that they will be ending their franchise agreement with the company in response to the news that CEO Robert Rowling had donated millions to Karl Rove’s anti-gay American Crossroads PAC. The locally-owned Gold’s still have almost two years on their contract, but have vowed to “match every dollar” in their remaining …

Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel has sent a letter to all employees defending the company’s track record on LGBT issues. This comes after the revelation that the retail giant had donated $150K to a Minnesota group that funds the campaign of a candidate with ties to an anti-gay Christian rock band. The band and its leader openly call for the executions …

From their official YouTube page.

The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce has sent a blistering letter (PDF) to McDonald’s cutting their ties with them, perhaps partially in response to COO Donald Thompson’s “I am a Christian” statement about the company’s ad in France. We strongly believe that McDonald’s plan to distance itself from LGBT and other diverse business segments, coupled with the release …

Bowing to the pressure of McDonald’s free WiFi, Starbucks will end their pay-to-surf program at the end of the month. Starting July 1, Starbucks will let anyone connect to its WiFi network for free. This fall, the company will add a content network called Starbucks Digital Network, in partnership with Yahoo and other sites, which will include local content you …

Yesterday Gawker dug up an internal memo from American Apparel directing managers to send in photos of potential new employees so that anybody not up to their model-pretty standards could be immediately weeded out. One former manager tells Gawker about the kind of black girls she was instructed to hire: “None of the trashy kind that come in, we don’t …

Once again, ExxonMobil’s shareholders have voted overwhelmingly to exclude LGBT employees from its partner benefits program. The Dallas Voice reports: Only 22 percent of ExxonMobil shareholders voted in favor of adding the protections during today’s annual meeting at the Meyerson Symphony Center in downtown Dallas. Last year 40 percent of shareholders voted in favor of the proposal. About two dozen …