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Well that was fast!
Intel has no interest in being associated with hate and has announced that they will cease all future funding to the Boy Scouts of America until gay Scouts and leaders are welcome within the organization.
Boom. See what Intel had to say after the jump.
In a statement released to Think Progress on Friday, September 21, Intel’s Chief Diversity Officer, Rosalind Hudnell, said that the company could no longer fund the Boy Scouts of America, so long as the Scouts stand by their long-held policy barring gay troops and leaders from participating in the organization.
“Due to significant growth in the number of organizations funded, earlier this year we revisited our policies associated with the program, and applied new rigor that requires any organization to confirm that it adheres to Intel’s anti-discrimination policy in order to receive funding,” said Hudnell.
Zach Wahls, who drafted the Change.org petition calling for Intel to cease funding the BSA, says, “Intel made the right decision here, in order to live up to their corporate values of diversity, equality and individual liberty. Companies that support the LGBT community simply can’t be in the business of funding organizations that discriminate. Frankly, by sending this message, Intel is upholding the true spirit of Scouting better than the BSA is today.”
GLAAD President Herndon Graddick was also pleased, saying: “Intel joins current Boy Scouts of America Board Members, President Obama, Mitt Romney and hundreds of thousands of Americans in speaking out against the BSA's practice of unfairly kicking out gay scouts and scout leaders simply because of who they are.
All of the great work that the BSA does to help young people will continue to be overshadowed by their blatant discrimination until they join other inclusive national organizations like the Girl Scouts of the USA and the 4-H Club. The time is now for the BSA to side with fairness, otherwise they will continue to see sponsors and scouting families drop their support.”
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Original Post
We wonder if Intel knows who they're in bed with? If not, they certainly will now!
GLAAD has joined Scouts for Equality, founded by the LGBT community's favorite son, Zach Wahls, in petitioning the Intel Corporation to stop funding the anti-gay Boy Scouts of America.
Intel has a perfect Corporate Equality score according to the Human Rights Campaign, so we're wondering if the company is actually behind the BSA's discriminatory policies.
More after the jump.
According to GLAAD, "Wahls launched the petition on Change.org after an American Independent report revealed that Intel gave nearly $700,000 to the Boy Scouts in 2010, despite the organization’s anti-gay policy."
The Intel Foundation has a policy that it will not fund “organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran or disability status.”
Sounds like the BSA's anti-gay stance should be a deal breaker, no?
Wahl's writes: “As an Eagle Scout representing an organization of 1,500 Eagles strong, I applaud Intel's support for the Boy Scouts of America as a vital American institution critical in the development of our nation's future leaders. But in July of this year, the Boy Scouts of America reaffirmed their discriminatory policy barring gay Scouts and leaders, thus forfeiting their eligibility for funds from fair-minded, socially-responsible corporations.”
He continues: “Until the Boy Scouts of America removes this hurtful policy that is inconsistent with its own principles, they do not deserve the financial backing of companies that strive for workplace equality -- especially innovators like Intel."
Will Intel follow their own rules and stop filling the coffers of the Boy Scouts of America, Instincters?
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