Truth rating: 10
6:06 pm, February 4th, 2012
(GettyImages.com)
JC Penney has announced continued support for Ellen DeGeneres after a family values group demanded that the company fire its new spokeswoman for being gay.
Earlier this week, OneMillionMoms.com, a project of the American Family Association, declared that “hiring an open homosexual” like DeGeneres was a poor business decision that would “turn away potential new, conservative shoppers.”
According to the group, DeGeneres is “not a true representation of the type of families” that go to JC Penney.
But the retail giant is not swayed by the moms’ pressure.
JC Penney has released a statement announcing that it “stands behind its partnership with Ellen DeGeneres.”
The decision was applauded by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), which had jumped to DeGeneres’ defense and collected more than 26,000 signatures for an online petition to protect her job.
“This week Americans spoke out in overwhelming support of LGBT people and JC Penney’s decision not to fire Ellen simply for who she happens to love,” said the group in its own statement.
DeGeneres, who came out of the closet in 1997, married Portia de Rossi in 2008.
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