Mark Reed of GetEQUAL reports that activists are moving ahead with planned protests outside three local ExxonMobil stations on Friday afternoon. The protests are designed to draw attention to Irving-based ExxonMobil’s anti-gay employment policies, as well as the need for passage of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
“Everything is looking good,” Reed said in an e-mail Thursday afternoon. “We have reached out to the 80 confirmed [Facebook] guests. It’s hard to tell how many will actually show up. We will have a police officer at each location. We will have signs available and T-shirts. As long as we stay on the sidewalk, we are perfectly legal. The tie-up-the-pump is something that will morph at the scene depending on the numbers that show up for the event.”
“Tie-up-the-pump” is a possible effort to have people in their cars purchase a very small amount of gas and take a very long time to pump it. The idea is that this will cost the stations money. Remember, GetEQUAL activists have demonstrated that they’re willing to get arrested to make a statement, so things could get interesting.
And if nothing else, they’ve come up with some really nice graphics like the ones above and below, so it’s probably worth stopping by just for a T-shirt. More on Facebook.
Have Dallasites gone through with a protest against Exxon in the past? It seems like I have heard about planned protests for years but when push comes to shove, people say that “it’s not the Dallas way” and the protest gets called off at the last minute. I am interested to know if protests have actually occurred and if this one goes through as planned.
Ever since Exxon took benefits away from its Mobil employees, protesters have gathered outside the annual shareholders meeting that is held at the Meyerson.
Exxon used hire counterprotesters who would carry signs that said things like “Windmills kill birds.”
The first couple of years, the protest attracted a number of celebrities. Bianca Jagger was one of the protesters I met who was passionate about Exxon and pollution as well as equality.
More stupid and childish. To target Exxon is fine, but this will simply inconvenience non-LGBT people and there won’t be any financial impact for Exxon.
This is still just a small band of idiots trying to get attention. We don’t need attention, we need results. These childish stunts don’t change any minds.
We get it Mark Reed – you want to be an activist. It’s okay, it’s very easy to be an activist. Just ask your competition Rick Vanderslice. If you can provide some evidence that these goofy stunts are helpful, please provide it.
Thankfully, most of GetATTENTION’s “complaining” has been ignored by the media and the LGBT Community. Soon, they’ll go away.
“It seems like I heard about….” and “people say that…..” are signs that someone believes every negative untruth they hear and then repeats them to you as truth.
Gay men and lesbians throughout history have felt the harmful affect of such negative thinking and behavior by groups like Exxon and persons like Majordude.
The facts about things like Exxon protests are well known or easy to research. Thank you, David Taffet for reminding us of them.