GetEqual to Protest ExxonMobil

Grassroots organization GetEqual will focus on one of the largest private businesses in the world this week when it protests at three ExxonMobil gas stations in Dallas.

The protests are to draw attention to ExxonMobil's business practices that are unfriendly to many gay employees, according to the Dallas Voice.

The company is one of the few evaluated by the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index with a score of zero. While Mobil had a gay-inclusive nondiscrimination policy and domestic-partner benefits, its merger with Exxon ended policy, and the benefits program was closed to new employees. Each year since 2000 -- the companies merged in 1999 -- shareholders have failed to reestablish the rescinded protections and benefits.

GetEqual's action on May 14 is to highlight the need for passage on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

"When the world's largest publicly traded international oil and gas company with nearly 30,000 employees in the United States refuses to protect the LGBT community against workplace discrimination, it underscores the need for Congress to pass ENDA now," GetEqual's Mark Reed told the Dallas Voice. "Every day that Congress does not act on ENDA is another day when lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees can be fired from ExxonMobil for simply being who they are."

For more information on the rallies, visit the Boycott ExxonMobil page on Facebook.