Introduction
General Motors Company (GM), is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Detroit that manufactures cars and trucks in 35 countries. GM reached the milestone of selling 10 million vehicles in 2016.
The company was founded in 1908 and was the largest automobile manufacturer in the world from 1931 through 2007. They employ 212,000 people (349,000 in the 1980’s) and do business in more than 140 countries.
Current brands are Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, and Wuling. Former brands include Daewoo, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, Saturn, as well as Vauxhall and Opel, which were bought by Groupe PSA in 2017.
Pride
One of the rainbow activities of GM was the sponsoring of Pride events, for instance the one in Atlanta. Under the theme GMequality they put up ads during the Atlanta Pride, accompanied by the following statement:
“Before you look at us as an automotive company, you should look at us as corporate citizens. Because, like us, you want superior quality and competitive prices. But you also want to buy products from companies whose policies you feel good about.
And that’s why General Motors Corporation works – and succeeds – at making a difference in the global economy, and valuing human potential and diversity. Just one of the ways we’re achieving this is through our active and effective gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employee group, GM PLUS (People Like Us).
Our domestic-partner benefits level the playing field between same-sex and married couples. General Motors scored a perfect 100 in the 2006 HRC Corporate Equality Index Survey.
We sponsor local LGBT community centers, national LGBT conferences and special events. And we’ve committed USD 1 million to HIV/AIDS awareness. Today, GM equality is turning heads all over the automotive industry. We hope we’ve just turned yours.“
So, this was a politically correct attempt to pre-empt possible objections by their target customers. Of course, they would be classified as gay-friendly by Gay Wheels for this policy.
“There are many stereotypes about what we as a community drive and to a certain extent, stereotypes are based on the most visible members of our community. The reality is that we live and work everywhere in the U.S. and we are as diverse as the rest of the population,” says Joe LaMuraglia, founder of Gaywheels.com. “With that said, the vehicles that the Gaywheels.com user is researching is markedly different than that of other automotive research websites, while still reflecting the diverse interests in our community”.
In 2008, General Motors and their brands Saturn, Cadillac, Saab and Chevrolet invited gay & lesbian Angelenos to come to the LA Convention Center for a “Gay Day in LA at the Auto Show”. Participants were being asked to wear the color green to show their visibility at the auto show. General Motors wants to impress the highly coveted gay market by showing off their latest hybrids, alternative energy vehicles, futuristic concept cars and the much-anticipated Chevy Volt electric car.
By 2014, website CarTalk said: “It’s hard to argue that the situation in the showrooms is dramatically changed, even in the more welcoming, gay marriage-friendly world of 2014. But many auto companies have stepped up to woo LGBT customers, General Motors most prominently. Since 1993, the company has had an employee resource group that focused on equal treatment for LGBT workers. Now it’s called GM PLUS (People Like Us). And GM actively markets its cars to gay consumers.”
At a GM Outreach event, visitors could mix and match images to describe their family.
Observers wrote: “GM now means Gay Marriage”.