Italian pasta maker Barilla is continuing to do damage control after its president came under fire for anti-gay remarks he made in September.
The company announced Monday it is creating a new "diversity & inclusion board," which will bring in outside experts and advocates to help the company "establish concrete goals and strategies for improving diversity and equality in the company's workforce and culture." David Mixner, a well-known gay rights advocate, has already joined the board.
It also appointed its first chief diversity officer and it said it will participate in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which rates companies on how friendly their corporate policies are to LGBT employees.
In September, Barilla President Guido Barilla said in a radio interview that he wouldn't feature same-sex couples in his company's commercials because he prefers the "traditional" family -- sparking many LGBT groups and customers to boycott Barilla products. He has apologized multiple times since then, and he even met with LGBT groups to try to repair some of the damage.
When treated like sub-humans, it pays for gays to protest and boycott. Here's the proof!
Greyhawk is right. It's not so much that they care about losing gay customers, it's that they're afraid anti-gay comments make them look intolerant and offend larger markets, such as soccer moms and young professionals. This is one of the reasons the GOP has really tried to tone down its anti-gay rhetoric in recent years (with only mixed results).
Greed trumps prejudice.
Please keep in mind, it's not just the LGBT community, it's also those in the straight community that support us.
Just shows that we have enough clout, both economic and political, that businesses are afraid of the consequences if they offend us.
This is good news. I wish the same out come could have been the same with Chick Fillet. I still will not go back to those restaurants. If we can't have the same rights, they can't have my money!