Nation's Larges Naval Shipbuilder Scores High on LGBTQ Polices

As the crow flies, I live perhaps 5 or 6 miles from Newport News Shipbuilding, Virginia's largest employer and the builder of America's nuclear powered aircraft carrier fleet and many of the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarines.   For the last several years the company has been a champion of LGBT rights locally and a presenting sponsor for the HR Pride event each summer.  The Christofascists, of course, must be having conniption fits.  Unlike Virginia Republicans, Newport News Shipbuilding when your policies are welcoming to all and discrimination is banned, you can hire the best and the brightest employees.  Who they love really should play no role whatsoever in employment decisions.  Moreover, such policies make a region and/or state attractive to other progressive, forward looking businesses.  A piece in U.S. News & World Reports looks at the company's LGBT friendly polices.  Here are highlights:

One of the nation's leading gay rights groups is praising the LGBTQ-friendly policies of the nation's largest military shipbuilder.

The Daily Press in Newport News reported Friday that Huntington Ingalls Industries received a 100 rating on a corporate survey from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

The survey evaluated policies that include domestic partner benefits and transgender-inclusive medical benefits. The company builds aircraft carriers and submarines. It was one of 609 major businesses that earned a top rating.

The shipbuilder first participated in HRC's survey last year and scored an 85. The company's score was higher this year for a few reasons.

One was the addition of medical benefits for gender transition. The benefits include surgery, mental health services or other measures.

A piece in the Daily Press provides more on the views of the company's leadership and that of its parent company, including opposition to GOP backed license to discriminate laws masquerading as "religious freedom" laws:  

The nation’s largest military shipbuilder began ramping up efforts on diversity and inclusion several years ago at the behest of CEO and President Mike Petters.

He has vowed to change the culture of a corporate giant built on a foundation of shipyards, a traditional, male-dominated workplace. At Newport News, senior shipbuilders started walking the waterfront decades ago — back when attitudes on race, gender and sexual orientation were far different — so things won’t change overnight.

Changing the culture also means speaking out when necessary.

When the state of Mississippi advanced what supporters termed a religious freedom law, LGBTQ advocates rallied to oppose it.

Major business interests in the state opposed the bill, including MGM Resorts International, which operates casinos in the state, and Nissan North America. HII joined the opposition on behalf of its Ingalls Shipbuilding division in Pascagoula, Miss. 

Hate - A "Christian" Holiday Value

While most of the world remains focused on the hate and intolerance embodied by ISIS, here at home our domestic religious extremists are having a meltdown over the fact that fewer retailers are willing to engage in the hate and discrimination that are part and parcel with today"s "godly Christians" who are only happy when persecuting and making life Hell for others.  One such whining hate merchant is Linda Harvey, a self-anointed faux expert who pontificates on matters about which she has no  credentials.  Harvey has no legitimate employment and makes her living leading a "ministry" that does little other than condemn others and sow hate and discord and advocate for a Christian theocracy.  In a rant at World Net Daily, a/k/a Wing Nut Daily on this blog, provides a list of retailers who deserve our support this holiday shopping season.  Here are excerpts:

I stopped shopping at Macy’s in 2011 after learning about the retailer’s grossly unjust policy against women. Macy’s management said “yes” to a transsexual young man’s demand to change in the women’s dressing room and rejected a Christian employee’s attempt to block his inappropriate access, even firing her because of her principled actions. And Macy’s star balloons are now a regular feature of most “gay pride” parades.

Then there’s Target. Where to start? Selling “gay pride” T-shirts a few years back was bad enough, but Target is now “proudly standing” with homosexuals and cross-dressers who want to change America’s 1964 Civil Rights Act to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” through what pro-family colleague Peter LaBarbera is calling the “Criminalizing Christianity Act.”
Joining Target in supporting this anti-American, pro-deviance legislation are Amazon, General Mills, Google, Facebook, Paypal, Levi-Strauss and others. Which brings us to another recent traitor, Wal-Mart. This one-time reliable backer of Judeo-Christian standards has gone to the dark side in a big way. Wal-Mart put pressure on the governors of Arkansas and Indiana to oppose religious freedom bills. Why would Wal-Mart side with sexual anarchists against the First Amendment liberties of all Americans to oppose homosexual behavior?

But their unfaithfulness doesn’t end there. Wal-Mart is now a financial backer of deviant “gay pride” parades. What happened to this company? Do not shop there, people!

If you’re thinking toys, avoid Mattel. They just created “Moschino Barbie” with an ad featuring a tragically feminized little boy who plays with Barbies, a wicked accommodation to the current gender-destructive culture.

And don’t get me started on the many in-your-face insults of JC Penney, like ads featuring homosexuals, even on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and choosing as a national spokesperson lesbian Ellen DeGeneres. Did they plan to be so purposely offensive? Seems to be the case.

One has to wonder how someone becomes as seemingly mentally imbalanced and obsessed as Harvey.  One of my guides is to shop at the retailers Harvey condemns and boycott any retailer that Harvey supports.  If you decide to boycott a retailer or support a retailer as the case may be, please take the time to tell them why they have lost your business or gained it as applicable.  Here's a more complete list of retailers Harvey condemns:

Best Buy, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, CVS, Dell, DIRECTV, E-Bay, Ford Motor Co., The Gap (includes Old Navy and Banana Republic), General Motors, Hallmark, Home Depot, IKEA, JC Penney, Levi-Strauss & Co., Macy’s, Mattel, Nationwide, Nike, Nissan, Nordstrom, Office Depot, Staples, Starbuck’s, Target, TJX Companies ( owns TJ Maxx and Marshall’s), Volkswagen and Walgreen’s.

Hampton Roads Pride Fest

Hampton Roads Pride's mission is to:

To instill pride, celebrate unity and embrace diversity in the Hampton Roads Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community by creating visibility and promoting full human and civil rights through education, celebration, and networking.

 

This year's Hampton Roads Pride Fest looks like it will be the best ever if last night's kick off block party is any indication.  Seemingly a couple thousand people attended the event on 20th Street in Norfolk which included food, beverages, music and a light show.  The folks at HP Pride truly outdid themselves.  The image below gives and idea of the excitement.

One of the unique aspects of HR Pride is that it has the only boat parade of any Pride event in the country.  The husband and I will be participating on a friend's 50 foot boat (shown below) and will be boarding around 11:00AM to with other friends.  The assembled fleet parades along the Norfolk water front with boats competing for the wildest decorations and cheering passengers.  Our boat reportedly will have go-go boys. :)

For the complete schedule of events, either pick up the special VEER magazine Pride insert or go to HR Pride's web page here.  Here where you can find today's schedule for the party in Norfolk's Town Point Park.

My new employer is a corporate sponsor of the event and it shows how things are changing.  10 years ago I was fired for being gay by a large local law firm.  Now I work for a company that jumped at the opportunity to support this year's Pride event.  If you need title or settlement services, please look us up.  We operate in 10 states and strive to be on the cutting edge of high level services: