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news
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Nexf time you hit the malls, consider how these department stores
perform in the gay and lesbian rights department by Gip Plaster
t some point in your life, you’ve
likely shopped—or at least
browsed—at a Sears, JCPenney
or Wards store. So how do they
. measure up when it comes to
gay-related issues? Here’s a look.
A
C ome S ee the
G ayer S ide of S ears
1886, Richard W. Sears purchased some
I n watches
that were unwanted by the jeweler
who had ordered them. Sears began selling the
little timepieces at the stations he encountered
while working for the railroad between Min­
neapolis and St. Louis.
Later, Sears started a business, hired Indiana
watchmaker Alvah Roebuck, and the rest is
U.S. retail history.
Spokeswoman Stephanie Brown says the
company’s nondiscrimination policy does not
explicitly include sexual orientation.
But, according to a written statement, com­
pany associates are required to comply with the
law. It says, in part: “This business ethics policy
certainly applies to any laws that prohibit dis­
crimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”
Discrimination based on sexual orientation
is prohibited in several cities and a few states.
According to the statement, “JCPenney
believes that an associate’s marital status or sex­
ual preferences are personal matters and should
have no impact in the workplace. We believe
that an associate’s qualifications, performance
and ability are better measurements of the asso­
ciate’s individual success.”
The company’s other policies seem consis­
tent with keeping sexual “preferences” out of
the workplace. The company neither offers
W hy W ait A nother C entury
B efore S tarting A S olid
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M e m b e r S IP C
Employees a t Sears do not have domestic partner benefits.
The company does, however, include sexual orientation
, two,
decades
in its written nondiscrimination policy and incorporates
g ay and lesbian issues in its diversity trainings.
With 850 mall stores and about $41 billion
in sales in 1998, Sears, Roebuck and Co. is the
nation’s second largest retailer. (Wal-Mart is
No. 1.) The company also operatea more than
1,400 specialty stores, including the National
Tire and Battery chain, Sears Auto Centers,
Sears Hardware and Orchard Supply Hardware.
All told, the company claims more than
300,000 employees.
Sears is part of the Dow Jones industrial aver­
age, the Standard &. Poor’s 500, and is currently
No. 15 on the Fortune 500 list.
Employees at Sears do not have domestic
partner benefits. The company does, however,
include sexual orientation in its written nondis­
crimination policy and incorporates gay and les­
bian issues in its diversity trainings, says a com­
pany spokesperson. Sears also has a gay and les­
bian employee group called Gay, Lesbian and
Bisexual Associates of Sears.
domestic partner benefits, specifically discusses
gay and lesbian issues in diversity training, nor
has an officially recognized gay and lesbian
employee group.
Ward Holding Corp. is
T he the Montgomery
company that runs Wards stores.
The business is not publicly held, so you
can’t buy stock in the company, which happens
to he operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection and has closed more than 100 stores.
(General Electric is coming to the rescue, how­
ever, with plans to buy a large portion of the
company.)
Founded in 1872 as the world’s first general
merchandise mail-order catalog business, it is
now the largest privately owned retailer in the
country. The company was started in Chicago
by Aaron Montgomery Ward and now operates
about 250 stores in more than 30 states.
A P enney E arned
Despite its financial problems, the company
n 1902, James Cash Penney opened the claimed more than $3.5 billion in sales in 1998,
Golden Rule Store. Penney marked the and ranks No. 23 on the Forbes Private 500 list.
prices clearly on all the items and did not allow In response to questions for this article,
credit because he was morally opposed to it. Wards issued a statement noting that the com­
The Kennemer, Wyo., business caught on, pany prohibits discrimination based on sexual
and today it’s known as J.C. Penney Company orientation and provides diversity training—
Inc. (Each individual store is called simply although the statement did not say whether gay
JCPenney.) It operates about 1,200 stores in the and lesbian issues are specifically addressed.
According to the missive, "Wards benefit
United States, Chile and Mexico.
With $30 billion in sales, it ranks No. 31 on policy does not include domestic partners and
the Fortune 500 list and, like Sears, is among the there are no organized gay and lesbian groups.”
Standard & Poor’s 500.
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