Aug 20, 2004  |  By: BRYAN ANDERTON  | COMMENTS     

Circuit City may be the second-largest retailer of electronics in the United States, but some gays are saying they’ll go somewhere else for their DVDs and home electronics.

That’s because the Circuit City Stores, Inc. Political Action Committee has a long record of donating money to anti-gay legislators.

“I think it’s important that we know who our friends are and who our friends aren’t, and if we choose to vote with our checkbook, that’s completely appropriate,” says Equality Virginia Executive Director Dyana Mason.

The idea for a boycott came from an anonymous letter writer on the Web site VirginiaIsForHaters.com. The Web site also lists Circuit City, which is headquartered in Richmond, as one of the 10 largest companies based in Virginia.

Circuit City officials declined repeated requests for comment for this story.

Campaign contribution records on Congress.org show that, of the five U.S. House members who received donations from the Circuit City PAC in the 2003-2004 election cycle, only one — Calvin Dooley (D-Calif.) — voted against the Marriage Protection Act. That provision, which would strip federal courts of jurisdiction over same-sex marriage cases, was passed by the House in July by a vote of 233-194.

Likewise, all but one of the nine senators who has received money from the Circuit City PAC during this election cycle voted to bring the Federal Marriage Amendment up for a vote while it was being debated last month.

The records further show that, since 2001, the Circuit City PAC has given money to 52 Republicans, compared to just eight Democrats.

Among those who have received contributions from the PAC in that time are Sens. John Warner (R-Va.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), as well as Reps. Jim Gerlach (R-Penn.), Charles Pickering (R-Miss.) and Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.).

Allard and Musgrave are the lead co-sponsors of the Federal Marriage Amendment in the Senate and House, respectively, and Cornyn help lead debate in favor of the measure.

Receiving the most money since 2001 is Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.), who is also a co-sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment. In 1999, he also voted to ban gay adoptions in D.C. Since 2001, he has received $5,000 from the PAC.

Bad record on gay issues, too
Jay Porter of VirginiaIsForHaters.com says he doesn’t understand why Circuit City supports so many anti-gay legislators.

“I don’t know why a company would go out of its way to lend support to candidates who are that far out of the mainstream,” Porter says. “If they want to have customers who are diverse and hold diverse political views, its unclear why they would want to support candidates who are not indicative of that diverse mainstream nature. …

“For a company to skew its donations that way shows a lack of respect for all of the people who patronize them.”

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay advocacy group, gave Circuit City a low Corporate Equality Index score of 29 out of a possible 100. According to the survey, Circuit City does have a written non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation in its employee handbooks, but does not protect against discrimination based on gender identity.

Circuit City also does not offer domestic partner benefits to its gay employees’ partners, nor does it offer diversity training covering sexual orientation or gender identity.

Mason says she hopes that Circuit City will see the damage it could sustain if it continues to alienate gay customers.

“It’s disappointing that Circuit City seems to be writing off a really important part of their potential customer base by making these contributions,” Mason says.