Corporate Gay Activism 2

4. Reasons For Corporate Social Responsibility
5.  HSBC's "Gay Lions" In Hong Kong
6.  The Morality Militia Squealed
  
4.   Reasons For Corporate Social Responsibility

There are 7 reasons why a company would consider CSR initiatives:

• Kudos and awards from social monitoring or activist organizations e.g. "best company to work for if you're gay / black / female / care about the environment / whatever..";
• Appeal to "ethical" investors, both individual and institutional, looking to capitalize on a "feel good" factor;
• Repair or prevent reputational damage;
• Repair or prevent physical, financial, environmental or minority damage that they caused.  Sometimes that can be the result of legal proceedings or leaked disclosures;
• Exert pressure on the upstream and downstream supply chain of goods and services;
• Appeal to an existing but untapped client market;
• Position the corporate brand as overtly inclusive or socially aware - for recruitment and marketing campaigns;

 5.   HSBC's "Gay Lions" In Hong Kong

1.   HSBC is a major global bank with historical links to Hong Kong.  Outside its main office at 1 Queen's Road Central sit the bank's 2 lions, Stephen and Stitt.  They symbolize courage and prosperity.  They've been there forever - except that at the end of 2016, for a month, the bank added 2 replicas by a local LGBT artist painted in rainbow colours to symbolize pride and unity in diversity.



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2.   It's not the first time that HSBC has come out on a highly visible scale in support of LGBT.  Check out this video from 2014 showing HSBC's global celebration:



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3.   It's well known around town that HSBC recognizes same-sex relationships in its Employee Benefits policies.  They have been doing that for several years.


6.   The Morality Militia Squealed

1.  It didn't take long for the usual suspects that comprise the Morality Militia to squeal. A small group of "Family Values" types (apparently an alliance of 8 concern groups) showed up in Central to picket around the rainbow lions and vented their anger on HSBC's Facebook page.  The gist of their complaints:

•  the painted lions were a "disgusting display";
• blurring of gender identity;
• discrimination against traditional values;
• emotional damage;
• HSBC's pro-GLBT policies had never been discussed at shareholders meetings;
• forced shareholders to recognize the homosexual lifestyle;
• infringed shareholders' freedom of conscience;
• threats to close their accounts;
• HSBC was arrogant in refusing to meet them and hold a dialogue;

COMING UP IN PART 3:

7.  Education, Affluence and Corporate Social Responsibility
8.  Everybody's Got An Angle
9.  Hypocrisy Of Hong Kong's Morality Militia

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