Tag Archives: Meyerson Symphony Center

Police at Exxon rally: Leave the bigots alone and get on the other side of the barricades!

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UPDATE: I’ve posted some of the the video here.

I guess it’s my fault, since I forgot my press badge. But I also feel like I just suffered some possible anti-gay harrassment from overzealous Dallas police officers.

You see, I was down at the peaceful ExxonMobil protest outside the Meyerson this morning with my Flip camera, getting some video to go with our coverage. At one point some crazy lady, presumably an ExxonMobil shareholder, stopped in the middle of the street and began yelling at the protesters, “Shame, shame, sinners!”

So I followed the lady across the street and kept filming her. She turned around and asked whether I was a reporter. I responded that I was and asked whether she was a shareholder. “Why?” she said before turning around and walking inside. At this same moment, a Dallas police officer yelled over my shoulder, “Leave her alone.”

Continue reading “Police at Exxon rally: Leave the bigots alone and get on the other side of the barricades!” »

—  John Wright

Sign GetEQUAL's ExxonMobil petition

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If you can’t make the big ExxonMobil protest outside the Meyerson next Wednesday, or even if you can, be sure to sign the online petition that GetEQUAL plans to deliver to the company’s shareholders. Here’s what it says:

To the Shareholders of ExxonMobil:
In the ’90s, Mobil had a progressive Equal Employment Opporutnity (EEO) policy, specifically prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Mobil also extended benefits to domestic partners of employees. But after the merger with Exxon in the late 90s, you rescinded both of these policies.
In a recent letter, your Vice President of Investor Relations said this:
“Where we [ExxonMobil] operate in countries in which the national laws require specific language regarding nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity be included in policies, we have amended our policies as appropriate.”
That means that you only plan to do the right thing if the government makes you. We’ve been working for more than 30 years to pass a federal law for workplace protections for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. We’re very close to making that happen, but you shouldn’t wait for a federal law to re-enact your company’s nondiscrimination policy.
We, the undersigned, stand with LGBT employees of ExxonMobil – and all LGBT working people in this country – demanding that you include gender identity and sexual orientation in your company’s EEO statement.

—  John Wright