Bay Windows - June 8, 2006
Ethan Jacobs, ejacobs@baywindows.com

This year, for the first time, the Macy's at Downtown Crossing designed a display window to mark Boston Pride, and the window made its debut about two weeks ago, according to Boston Pride president Linda DeMarco. In its original incarnation the window display featured two male mannequins, one wearing a Pride flag wrapped around his waist as a long skirt, both posed facing forward and not touching. The display also featured the Boston Pride logo, a disco ball and a calendar of events, as well as the Web addresses for Boston Pride and AIDS Action, which sponsored the June 4 AIDS Walk, one of the listed events.

But as of the morning of June 6 the store removed features from the window, including the Web addresses for Boston Pride and the AIDS Action Committee, apparently in response to complaints from supporters of the anti-gay group Article 8 Alliance. Earlier this week Article 8, a Waltham-based group headed by anti-gay activist Brian Camenker, posted photos of the window on its Website and urged its supporters to call Macy's and demand they remove the display. The Web posting singled out the mannequins as objectionable, calling them "[v]ery bizarre. One mannequin is wearing what looks like some [sort] of rainbow skirt. And when was the last time you saw male store mannequins with breasts like those?" The site also posted the phone numbers and e-mail addresses for Macy's company officers and public relations representatives in Boston, New York and Ohio.

As of the morning of June 6 the display had been changed, with both the mannequins and the Website addresses removed. The calendar of events and the Boston Pride logo remained intact.

Bay Windows called the office of the Downtown Crossing store's manager, Linda Stahley, to inquire about the changes to the display and was referred to the Macy's public relations office. Macy's spokesperson Elina Kazan e-mailed a statement to Bay Windows that reads, "Macy's has a great respect for the diversity of our communities and our customers - it's a long-standing tradition for our company. Throughout the year, we offer tributes to numerous different organizations in our display windows and we are honored this week to recognize Gay Pride Week."

During a follow-up interview Kazan claimed that the mannequins were never supposed to have been in the window.

"We don't incorporate mannequins in any of our tribute windows," said Kazan. When asked why the mannequins had been put in the window originally Kazan said she was unsure and offered to find that information. She has not subsequently provided that information to Bay Windows.

Yet in an interview with the Boston Herald published June 7, the morning the controversy broke, Kazan told the paper that the store decided to "reexamine" its display for Boston Pride in response to complaints from customers. When asked by Bay Windows whether customer complaints were a factor in the decision to change the display Kazan said, "A few people did find some of the images offensive, and again we are here not to be offensive to anyone, but the window is still up."

DeMarco said she spoke with the store employee who designed the window, who told her that the store had been inundated with calls and e-mails complaining about the window display, prompting the store to change the display.

As word of Macy's decision spread it was met with disappointment from both LGBT activists and allies of the community. Mayor Thomas Menino called the decision by Macy's to alter the window in response to complaints "unfortunate."

"I'm very surprised that Macy's would bend to that type of pressure," Menino told Bay Windows. "Macy's was celebrating a part of our community, gay Pride, and they should be proud of the gay community, and I'm proud of the gay community and gay Pride. Once again it's the radical right wing that's doing ità They don't represent the people. Their motto is, we've had enough of them."

AIDS Action posted an action alert on its website June 7 urging supporters to call Macy's, thank them for putting up the window and ask them to restore it to its original form. Marc Solomon, campaign director of MassEquality, sent a letter June 7 to Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and CEO of Macy's parent company Federated Department Stores, on behalf of MassEquality's members describing Article 8 as "the most extreme of all the organizations in the state currently fighting to ban same-sex marriage" urging them to restore the display.

"Macy's should not let pressure from a small group of anti-gay extremists stop them from continuing their admirable tradition of support for the millions of GLBT Americans across the country," wrote Solomon. "We strongly urge Federated Department Stores and Macy's to reconsider their decision to take down the Pride window and put it back up in its original form as a symbolic display of support for GLBT equality during Boston's Pride week."

By the end of the day on June 7 Macy's tried to diffuse what had become a public relations disaster. At 6:20 p.m. that evening Macy's unveiled a slightly altered Pride display window, with the website addresses for Boston Pride and AIDS Action restored to the window alongside the calendar. But the two busty mannequins that got Article 8 worked up in the first place were still nowhere to be found. And it is uncertain whether Macy's national public relations office is even aware of the latest changes to the window. At 6:26 p.m., in response to an earlier question about the window, Kazan e-mailed Bay Windows and wrote, "The window will remain as is." DeMarco said this year was the first year Macy's had designed a window to mark Pride, and the Pride committee was excited to have a strong presence in the Downtown Crossing area. "It was phenomenal, I was so proud" when the window went up, DeMarco said. "We were trying so hard to get Downtown Crossing to embrace Pride, and we were so happy that Macy's was doing this."

The Macy's display window is one of several public displays and advertisements marking Pride, which takes place June 10. Boston City Hall raised the Pride flag June 2, Faneuil Hall held a Pride event June 3, and signs advertising Pride are up on street lights in parts of the South End. Menino said a small but vocal group have called City Hall to complain about the Pride flag raising, but he has no intention of bowing to pressure. "They call, but I treat them like they're a piece of wet paper," said Menino. "They'll disappear eventually. I don't take them very seriously."

Macy's is not the first company targeted by Article 8 for its pro-LGBT stance. In April 2005 Article 8 supporters contacted Stop and Shop and urged the supermarket chain to stop carrying Bay Windows in response to an e-mail alert from Article 8 calling the paper "a hardcore Boston homosexual newspaper." Stop and Shop ceased distribution for a month but resumed distributing Bay Windows after the paper removed its personal ads from its hard copies, a change that had already been in the works prior to the Article 8 e-mail. Last July, Article 8 supporters complained to Clear Channel in response to one of its billboards on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge advertising the Website Gay.com, prompting Clear Channel to remove the billboard one day early, according to a Boston Globe report.

***

Macy's at a glance

Macy's parent company, Federated Department Stores, has a strong record on gay and lesbian issues, according to Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) Equality Index, although the company has no policies that explicitly protect its transgender employees. Here's a rundown on Federated Department Stores' LGBT-related policies, according to the 2005 HRC Equality Index.

HRC Equality Index Score: 86 percent

Non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation in its employee handbook or manual: Yes

Non-discrimination policy covering gender identity and/or expression in its employee handbook or manual: No

Offers health insurance coverage to employees' domestic partners: Yes, as of 1997

Benefits for which partners of employees are eligible:

Health/medical (as of 1997)
Dental
Vision
Dependent health coverage
FMLA-like leave
COBRA-like benefits (as of 2005)
Bereavement leave
Supplemental life insurance
Relocation assistance
Adoption assistance
Qualified joint and survivor annuity for spouse/partner
Retiree healthcare benefits (as of 2005)
Employee discounts (as of 2005)

Diversity training: Training offered on sexual orientation: Yes Required: all employees required to attend

Training offered on gender identity/expression: No Required: N/A

GLBT advertising, sponsorship or philanthropy: Yes

Engages in corporate action that would undermine the goal of equal rights for GLBT people: No

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