JC Penny sticks to Ellen DeGeneres

February 07, 2012

JC Penny doesn’t believe having a gay spokesperson would result in bad business.

The US retailer hired Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson but immediately faced backlash by the homophobic American Family Association, which asked the company to replace DeGeneres with a heterosexual.

“Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families,” according to its website.

“More sales will be lost than gained unless they replace their spokesperson quickly.

“DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there.”

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has gathered tens of thousands of signatures in a petition titled Stand Up for Ellen to thank the retailer for hiring the comedian and to bring attention to the fact that in most states it is perfectly legal to fire LGBT because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Since Ellen came out 15 years ago, the nation has evolved and support for LGBT people is at an all-time high,” said Herndon Graddick, GLAAD’s senior director of programs and communications.

“Although it is still legal to fire someone for being gay in 29 states, Americans are fair-minded people who know that firing someone just for being gay is not what this country is about.

“J.C. Penney is standing with Ellen and so do we.”

Transgender people can be let go of their jobs because of their gender identity in 34 states.
In a reader poll by the Los Angeles Times, 96% support keeping Ellen as the spokesperson for JC Penny.