HRC Buying for
Equality 2009 Quiz Answers
1)
Home Depot or
Lowe’s?
For the past two
years, Home Depot has maintained a rating of 85 while Lowe’s
has refused to respond to repeated requests for information
and has policies that are unclear.
2)
Best Buy or
Radio Shack?
Best Buy is by far
your best choice with a rating of 100 for the 2009 and 2008
guides. Radio Shack has maintained the same level of
consistency. Unfortunately, that has been at a score of
40.
3)
eBay or
QVC?
A “no score”, meaning
a refusal to respond to HRC’s requests, is less definitive
than a low score, but it also leads one to wonder what it is
they don’t want to reveal. QVC is a big question mark but
eBay’s score of 100 leaves little doubt as to the better
choice.
4)
Sears or John
Deere?
Unfortunately, this is
one of those rare times that cute just doesn’t cut it (come
on --- that was a pretty good pun!). There is nothing cute
about John Deere’s score of 33. Good old Sears comes in with
an outstanding 100.
5)
Discover or
Chase?
You would think that
after making such a great showing with their retail
policies, the financial service arm of Sears would be the
obvious winner. Not so! While falling in the “showing
improvement and deserving encouragement” level with a score
of 58, Discover falls far short of Chase’s 100. In fact, not
only is Chase one of HRC’s National Corporate Partners, so
is Bank of America, Citi and WaMu.
6)
Nike or Foot
Locker?
Just do it! Nike is
another HRC National Corporate Partner with a perfect 100
while the Foot Locker is not even interested in talking to
us.
7)
Ford or
Nissan?
Did you say Nissan? I
did, but I was wrong. Ford is a perfect 100 while Nissan
rates only a score of 50. Don’t panic, though. If you’re
like me and really don’t have that much faith in American
made vehicles, Toyota, Subaru and
Volkswagen all scored 100.
8)
Exxon or
Shell?
There are a lot of low
scores in this survey, but as far as I can tell, there is
only one 0 and that honor goes to Exxon. And you thought the
Valdez was the only reason to be disgusted by them. Even
though we all look forward to the day we no longer have to
give any of our money to oil companies, at least there are
better choices --- Shell scored 100 and is a HRC National
Corporate Partner. So are BP and Chevron
(Texaco).
9)
Cox Cable or
Direct TV?
Direct TV is another
of our “no score” folks who refuse to participate. Cox Cable
scores a perfect 100 and the parent company, Cox
Enterprises, is a HRC National Corporate
Partner.
10) Coors or Corona?
Considering the fact
that the gay community has boycotted Coors for decades, it
would seem that this would be a no-brainer. But life is
often complicated and few things are black or white. The
Coors family still supports anti-gay measures whenever they
get the chance, but their workplace and consumer policies
rate a score of 100 while Corona is another “no score”.
Fortunately, there are lots of other choices --- Budweiser
sails through with 100 and Miller with a solid 90. Or forget
the beer and reach for my friend Jose Cuervo, top shelf with
a score of 100, and peruse the rest of the HRC Buyer’s Guide
with a margarita!
HRC's
Buying for Equality 2009
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