Wal-Mart's evolving stance on gays

In case you've been just getting bits and pieces on the ongoing flap about Wal-Mart's allegiance to gay workers - and the backlash from Christian conservatives - Fortune's Marc Gunther weaves together the tale. Wal-Mart's support of gay groups had led Rev. Donald Wildmon to call for a boycott of Wal-Mart over the Thanksgiving weekend. Then, the boycott and related protests were called off after the company said it would "not make corporate contributions to support or oppose highly controversial issues unless they directly relate to our ability to serve our customers."

This seemed to be wavering from the outreach to gay groups, though a Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the company would remain "100 percent supportive" of its own, newly-organized group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, called Wal-Mart Pride. And yes, I realize it's a little strange to be using Wal-Mart and transgender in the same sentence, but the Arkansas-based retail giant has been supporting several gay causes. From Fortune:

Wal-Mart donated $60,000 to Out & Equal, a nonprofit group that brings together gay-employee networks from companies across America, and this fall it sent about 40 Pride members to Out & Equal's annual convention. Wal-Mart also joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, an organization of about 24,000 gay and lesbian-owned businesses, and several Wal-Mart execs bought tickets to the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay-advocacy group.

It turns out that much of this activity can be traced back to an unassuming middle manager who several years ago asked Wal-Mart to live up to the words in the cheer - "It's My Wal-Mart" - that its people shout out whenever groups of them get together. Early in 2003, Ken Pearson, who works at Wal-Mart University, the company's training arm, came back from a corporate meeting where the theme was "It's My Wal-Mart" and speakers included the African-American poet Maya Angelou. "But I didn't really feel like it was my Wal-Mart, as a gay man," Pearson says.

Back then, the company did not have a written policy protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) employees against discrimination. Nor did it provide health benefits to the same-sex partners of gays and lesbians. So Pearson composed an e-mail to a Wal-Mart vice chairman, explaining that he is gay, asking if he was welcome at Wal-Mart and outlining his concerns. "I sat there shaking," Pearson recalls. "Can I hit send? There's nothing to protect me from losing my job." Soon after dispatching the e-mail, Pearson was invited to meet with the executive, who told him that the letter had moved him and that things would change.

Before we all get too warm and fuzzy, let it be known that Wal-Mart still does not offer health care benefits to the domestic partners of its GLBT employees (more than half of Fortune 500 companies do).