News

By Terry Vanderheyden

PORT COQUITLAM, BC, December 21, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Costco has received numerous complaints after LifeSiteNews.com broke a story about a Knight of Columbus fired from Costco for denying a co-worker a hall for her same-sex wedding (see story: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05121302.html).

Although before publishing the story LifeSiteNews.com made repeated calls to Costco, with ample time to respond to the calls given, no response was received. In addition, calls put in to Costco’s lawyer were not returned. After the fact, Costco, of course, denied former employee David Hauser’s claim that he was discriminated against because of his involvement with denying his co-worker, lesbian Tracey Smith, access to the hall.

“The article regarding our former employee in Canada repeats a false accusation against our company,” Costco’s unsigned e-mail reply states. The e-mail claims that the reason for not disclosing their “real reason” for firing Hauser is because they honour “the confidentiality of our employee relationships.”

They add, “We can state categorically that we would never terminate any employee for reasons not directly related to his or her workplace performance or employment, and would never be influenced in that decision by any unrelated activity outside the course of employment. We cannot be more specific without violating our own confidentiality rules which protect our current and former employees.”

LifeSiteNews.com investigated Costco for its record on family and life issues.

According to the web site unmarriedamerica.org, for example, “About 80 of the [sic] Fortune 500 companies have [sic] adopted benefits programs for domestic partners. Twenty-eight of those companies have plans that are open to same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples.” Costco is included among the list of 28 companies that offer same-sex benefits to their employees.

In addition, Costco co-founders Jeffrey Brotman and James Sinegal, chairman and chief executive officer respectively, were staunch backers of pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Sinegal, 68, was also the only CEO to donate money to independent political groups formed with the sole purpose of ousting US President George W. Bush, according to Internal Revenue Service records.

According to Boston.com, the IRS disclosure records revealed that Sinegal and Brotman gave $95,000 each to America Coming Together (ACT), an anti-Bush group, as well as the Media Fund, which ran anti-Bush ads during the 2004 election campaign. ACT’s web site claims, “In 2005, we will continue to lead the fight against George Bush’s radical right-wing agenda by continuing our work in 7-9 battleground states with key elections in 2005, 2006 and 2008.” Billionaire George Soros, known as one of the world’s foremost funders of abortion, homosexuality, contraception, feminism, euthanasia, and legalized soft-drug use, also supported ACT to the tune of $10 million. (See additional coverage at: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/dec/03120801.html)

Brotman and Sinegal also gave $95,000 each to the Joint Victory Campaign, another company supported by Soros, who added $12 million to their anti-Bush campaign coffers.

Costco, meanwhile, has been given a “thumbs up” by America’s largest abortionist, Planned Parenthood, for its decision to sell the abortifacient “Plan B” so-called emergency contraception. Costco is listed among Planned Parenthood’s “five best places to get your birth control prescriptions filled,” according to their web site.

The unnamed Costco representative who typed the e-mail response concluded that “In short, we believe that you can continue to shop with us in complete confidence that we do not tolerate or condone discrimination of any kind.”

Although the general principal for the store as stated may be true, the specific case involving David Hauser has caused serious questions about the validity of the company’s response to letter writers.Â

See https://www.choosetheblue.com/main.php for a break-down of political leanings of US businesses.
  Contact Costco:
  General Customer Service: 800-463-3783
  E-mail address: [email protected]
  Costco Canada Corporate Office
  Mailing address: 415 West Hunt Club Road Ottawa, ON K2E 1C5
https://www.costco.ca/en-CA/CustomerService/EmailUs
  See most recent LifeSitenews.com stories on this issue
  Photos of Port Coquitlam, B.C. Knights of Columbus Hall Dispute Lesbians’ Claims
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05121302.html
  Justice in British Columbia Knights Case also Decided Against Christians Kempling, Brockie
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05120801.html
  British Columbia Lesbians Determined to Extract More From Knights of Columbus
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05120201.html