Cracker Barrel logoI’m really curious to hear your take on this.

After I learned about Cracker Barrel (in 1991) and Olive Garden (in 1998) firing gay employees purely because they were gay”and winning the associated court battles because of lack of legal protections in those states”I resolved to boycott them. And I have for years, not one cracker or olive.

To my surprise (guess I’m not as informed as I thought I was), I found that both have changed their policies in recent years. The Advocate reported in its 4 Feb 2003 issue that Cracker Barrel added sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy after shareholders finally forced a vote. And I can see online that Darden Restaurants, owner of Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones, has changed as well.

So for at least a couple years I’ve been boycotting companies when there was no longer an explicit anti-gay discrimination policy. But I still feel (maybe irrationally) that I was part of something important, and my little economic decisions, joined by thousands of others, made a difference.

I wonder if you agree. Would you avoid shopping or eating somewhere if you learned they had an anti-gay policy? Would you also avoid shopping or eating somewhere if you learned the company, or the company’s founder, gave millions of dollars to causes you were against?

Before you answer that too quickly, let me point out that we could soon find ourselves boycotting everything under the sun. One website lists the top 25 companies that give big money to Republicans, including Altria (owner of Kraft Foods), Microsoft, UPS, AT&T, MBNA, Citigroup, Pfizer, FedEx, Walmart, etc.

HRC logoTo focus specifically on LGBT issues, the Human Rights Campaign publishes each year its “Buying for Equality” guide, which rates companies on their LGBT policies, and also compares side-by-side those who offer similar goods and services but have markedly different scores. They are basically encouraging you to boycott those who score low.

But would you? Do you avoid Toys ‘R’ Us, Avon, Bayer and Exxon? How about DKNY, Men’s Wearhouse, Domino’s Pizza and Weight Watchers? (And, sadly, Cracker Barrel is still on the red list with a score of only 15 out of 100).

So what do you do? I’m really interested to hear your thoughts.

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