I'm surprised I didn't see this more widely covered. I've avoided eating at Cracker Barrel because, for over ten years, the company has had a specific policy of firing gay and lesbian employees because it can. Any employee "whose sexual preferences fail to demonstrate normal heterosexual values, which have been the foundation of families in our society" were fired upon discovery.

They finally realized that enough shareholders would vote to rewrite the policy that they did it themselves. I just stumbled on this story, though the Human Rights Campaign also praised the move. Cracker Barrel was one of three companies to earn an absolute zero on HRC's 2002 Corporate Equality Index that gauges policies towards gay and lesbian employees, customers, and investors. Another of the zeroes, Lockheed Martin, is coming around as well with a long-overdue non-discrimination policy and health insurance for domestic partners.

That this nonsense could continue for over a decade testifies to how badly we need the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Firing people solely for being gay is legal under federal law and in 38 states.