Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein might have just spoken out in support of same-sex marriage, but not everyone is thrilled by his company being honored for its stance on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.
On Saturday, a subset of Occupy Wall Street protesters calling themselves "Queer/LGBTIQA2Z Occupy Wall Street" protested the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) gala dinner at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel because the organization was honoring Goldman Sachs.
"This company is using the mantel of gay rights to hide all of their other crimes, all of the other harm they have caused the LGBT community and the world," unofficial protest leader Joe Annino told Queerty, as seen in the video above.
Added another unofficial protest leader, Jeffrey Marx: "Their idea of equality is, 'Everyone can come to the country club.'"
A petition calling for HRC to withdraw their honor of Goldman Sachs was started on Change.org. "This company has outsourced thousands of jobs overseas," the petition read. "They have taken billions of dollars in taxpayer money with one hand while passing out pink slips with the other. They are a contributor to the economic collapse that has led LGBT Americans, like all Americans in the 99 percent, to have to struggle to make ends meet, keep their homes and take care of their families."
Though the protesters huddled outside the hotel, as Queerty notes, the gala dinner went on uninterrupted inside.