To help clear the palette after the distasteful display from Chick-fil-A this past summer, a titan of corporate America has taken a firm stand in the fight for marriage equality.
Luxury retailer Nordstrom Inc. has jumped into the controversial gay marriage debate by openly supporting the rights of gay and lesbians to marry.
The Seattle retailer joins other prominent Washington corporations such as Starbucks Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. in favor of approving Referendum 74 to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.
Company president Blake Nordstrom sent a companywide memo -- co-signed by brothers Erik and Pete, also executives at the retailer -- laying out the retailer's "philosophical approach" to business, which includes a workplace where "every employee is welcomed and respected."
Though Nordstrum has long afforded benefits to its same-sex employees, the company felt it was time to go further:
"We feel the next step in this journey is to now support freedom to marry, also called marriage equality," Nordstrom wrote in the memo. "We gave this thoughtful consideration and felt the time was right to come out in support of this civil rights issue.
"It is our belief that our gay and lesbian employees are entitled to the same rights and protections marriage provides as all our employees," the memo continues, adding that "the decision is consistent with our long-time philosophy of inclusivity and equality."
Of course, any popular company or brand-name that takes a stance on this issue is likely to anger and alienate part of its customer base even as it pleases and energizes another part. But the winds are definitely blowing in favor of marriage equality these days, and I suspect, as when JC Penney refused to be bullied into renouncing Ellen Degeneres as its spokesperson by anti-gay organizations, Nordstrum will suffer very little blowback for their decision.
Time to go shopping!