Is Domino’s a driving force behind the anti-LGBT movement? Finally, some hard facts.

January 5th, 2011

I joined the LGBT boycott of Domino’s pizza last year after learning that founder and former CEO, Tom Monaghan, was a radically conservative social activist. Somethings irked me about the story though; there is a Domino’s right in Boystown(one of the world’s most concentrated gay ghettos) and the pizza itself is delicious and fast- not something I was keen to give up.

Nevertheless, I stuck to my guns (toy guns, real ones are [possibly] illegal in Chicago). In a city filled with options for greasy, cheese covered, pepperoni-laden goodness, why bother with a company that is potentially supporting discrimination against me?

So, when a friend suggested that I order Domino’s for dinner tonight, we ended up both digging around for evidence supporting the claim that money going to Domino’s was money going to hate.

For the sake of making this easy to consume, I’m going to make my discoveries a list:

Tom Monaghan left his role as CEO of Domino’s Pizza and is no longer involved with the company. [link]
Tom Monaghan sold, if not all, nearly all of his shares in Domino’s and no longer reaps any significant financial benefit from the corporation. (Top 10 “other” holders: link] )
Although the LA Times article previously mentioned stated that Monaghan would remain on Domino’s Board of Directors, he has since resigned that post as well. [link]
Current Chairman-of-the-Board David Brandon has made financial contributions in excess of $200,000 to the Republican party, candidates, and PACs supporting the Republican party. link]
Brandon did make a $5,000 contribution to The Ave Maria List PAC in 2002. This contribution was passed on to the likes of Bob Dole and John Thune, amongst others. This is the PAC that Tom Monaghan founded in order to promote Catholic ideals in US government. [link]
Current CEO of Domino’s, J. Patrick Doyle, has likewise made $13,300 in contributions to the Republican party but there is no evidence of support for other anti-gay groups. [link]
Neither Brandon or Doyle have made significant political contributions outside the Republican party.
A Domino’s Pizza PAC has existed and distributed $61,500 to Republican candidates since 2002. No contributions have been reported since the 2006 election cycle, but the PAC collected an additional $10,500 that I was unable to account for and could presumably be used for future contributions. [link]
Total contributions to Republicans and to conservative causes from Domino’s and its current top-two leaders total at least $274,800.

Having for the most part cleared those most likely to reap financial benefit from Domino’s, I moved on to answering two other questions:

Does Domino’s itself stand for equality?
Is there a better alternative for a national pizza chain? (Thank you Adam for posing this question.)

For this I leaned on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index for 2011 (pdf). I am not always a fervent supporter of HRC’s political activities but I find their CEI to be indispensable and unmatched when it comes to deciphering a corporation’s stance on LGBT issues.

Domino’s has scored a 60/100 on the CEI since it was first listed in the index in 2008. That number is pretty grim, and more telling is the fact that they have made no strides to improve their score in four years of being listed. The report says that while Domino’s prohibit’s discrimination based on sexual orientation, has an employer-supported resource group, and positively engages the LGBT community (usually by way of advertising), they do not provide domestic partner benefits and they also do not provide protection against gender identity or expression.

Slightly better on the CEI, Yum! Brands (owner of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC) ranked a 65. They one-up Domino’s by providing domestic partner benefits and transgender-inclusive diversity training, but miss out on a huge number of points (15) by not “positively engaging the LGBT community.” Certainly some room for improvement, but a better option by far. This bodes well for me as I am a huge fan & supporter of Taco Bell. Yum! indeedâ€¦

I hope this helps you make a more informed choice when it comes to enjoying an American favorite. If nothing else, it highlights the complexity of making a seemingly simple decision when you are a minority.

You’re free to make your own decisions about how to act with this newfound information. Personally, I won’t be returning to Domino’s anytime soon. While I resolved many of my existing doubts about the company, a slew of new ones have been discovered. I’d much rather spend my money locally, someplace where I can talk to the owner and know first-hand where my relationship with the business stands.

Tags: boycott, civil rights, domino's, facts, gay, Gay Rights, homosexuality

Posted in: Gay Rights

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Thain

Simpler and less political reason for not ordering Domino's: their pizza sucks. It probably is harder to find thin pizza out there though, whereas here its albeit impossible not to find it. Do appreciate the hard work tho, always nice to know what corporations are up to behind the scenes.
http://charliecorp.com Charlie Gorichanaz

You should have written this three and a half years ago when I moved right next door to a Dominos and ordered many times since. Now I'll happily opt for something else, though I doubt I'd have gone to a Domino's any time soon anyway. Oh well, thanks for writing!
http://twitter.com/mafiahairdreser Mafia Hairdresser

Great Article. I’m about to do a blog about Dominos for a magazine and I went digging too. Thank you for doing my work for me!

Anonymous

How did the blog come out?

Eilish Mccahill

One more to add to the list! Chick-fil-a is agianst equality as well. They give thousands in cash and food to NOM each year. I and many friends of mine stopped eating there. That, and some us are vegetarians. I am looking up where different chains stand and the list is growing. Come on people?! When these corps. do this, they are really cheating themselves as well. They loose our money..they should really think about that.

Anonymous

The only reason I haven’t written something about Chick-fil-a is because so much has already been written about it. I am happy to say I’ve never been, and never will go

Kalie

Good work. I appreciate the research, succinct format. Domino’s has been off the menu
for me, for a couple of years. You’ve given me another resource to pass along, when I’m asked the reason for my boycott. Thanks Jordan

Anonymous

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Sean A

its pizza……..are going to stop paying taxes cause your money is used to blow up people in the middle east? I guess you got to pick your battles and hater pizza was it huh?

http://www.thatdorkjordan.com Jordan

I would like to stop funding war, unfortunately it’s illegal to not pay your taxes.

USMCJock

Domino’s has been off of the menu for sometime now. Glad it is.
C D Brittain

needed this~ thanks!
Hikingbuddy

Another reason to boycott them…they make their truck drivers in Denver work on Christmas, in two feet of mountain snow!