OWS types say yes, it's wrong. But Goldman's CEO was out front in support of marriage in NY last year. And now he's done a video supporting marriage nationwide. Is that enough to make up for the other sins? And while some may say that Goldman is supporting marriage to woo the left back into the fold, are politicians any more sincere when they woo us for our money and votes?
Andrew Beaver weighs in at HuffPo:
In 2012, honoring a New York company for being good to its gay employees is like congratulating it for a passing second grade, since New York City has strong anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBT people, and most of New York's banking industry has policies protecting LGBT employees. Let's be clear: HRC honored Goldman for money and prestige on Wall Street.Oh, I'm not so sure about that. Goldman's CEO came out for marriage. That's a pretty decent step forward for any CEO. And the man just did a video supporting marriage nationwide. How many CEOs do we have on that list? I'm not saying that we forgive Goldman's other sins. But I'm not sure I'd belittle the significance of their CEO publicly supporting marriage in the company's name.
More from Beaver:
I'm not suggesting it is HRC's job to police the American economy, nor do I think an organization that represents the spectrum of LGBT opinion should become a mouthpiece for critiques of our economic system, but I do believe HRC should embrace fundamental progressive values, especially those that so directly impact a generation we encouraged to live by those values. In honoring Goldman Sachs, HRC is aligning itself with a company that has nearly bankrupted an entire future generation and would do it again. This past Saturday HRC sent the message of "do as I say, not as I do," and that is very sad.I will say that HRC sometimes has a habit of trying to make lemons out of lemonade when the timing isn't entirely appropriate. Meaning, wooing politicians that are on the naughty list - and helping those politicians get off the list in the eyes of the community - in order to get something in return, such as speaking at an HRC dinner. I'm not saying that Goldman may not deserve the HRC award from a strictly civil rights perspective. But I'm also not convinced that now was the best time for HRC to do so. Unless HRC wanted to woo a rich friend, and make some very expensive lemonade.
