Goldman Sachs CEO: We Lost A Client Over Our Pro-Gay Marriage Stance

The Vampire Squid's heart seems to have cost it some business.

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, this February endorsed same-sex marriage in a video for the Human Rights Campaign.

As it turns out, not everyone was happy about that.

"There was some adverse reaction by someone," Blankfein told activists on Wednesday, according to the Financial Times, adding that a business partner that Blankfein kept anonymous "didn't want to continue a relationship that they had with us" after the CEO publicized Goldman's stance on gay marriage. Blankfein was speaking to members of Out on the Street, an advocacy group that focuses on the LGBT community on Wall Street.

That Goldman would willingly lose business over something ideological stands in marked contrast to the picture painted by Greg Smith, a former Goldman executive that wrote a scathing column ripping the investment bank for its "toxic" tactics that put profits before all else. He subsequently resigned from the firm.

Blankfein's appearance in the Human Rights Campaign video raised a few eyebrows when the clip originally debuted. Some on the left, including a few within the LGBT community, were incensed that the HRC was using Blankfein as a spokesperson for gay rights, arguing that Wall Street firms generally do a terrible job of representing the interests of everyday people and marginalized groups.

At the same time, Wall Street is reportedly becoming a much more tolerant place as of late. Several of the country's biggest banks have been named among the best places for LGBT employees to work, and according to The New York Times, a handful of wealthy Wall Street financiers even played a key role in getting same-sex marriage legalized in the state of New York.

At the event on Wednesday, Blankfein called Wall Street "among the most egalitarian places," according to the FT, adding, "The market doesn't care whether you're black or white, tall or short, gay or straight."

Blankfein didn't tack on "male or female" to that list. Goldman Sachs faced its own high-profile sexual discrimination lawsuit a couple of years ago, as well as the recent finding that the male-female wage gap is more pronounced on Wall Street than in any other area of the economy.

Comments

[ldjwood]

12:53 AM on 05/11/2012

This gay thing is going to cost the rest of us the election. all you here about is gay this and gay that. Obama the Gay president is now on conservative blogs.
Most people don't care about this issue. How about a job? keeping your entitlements, healthcare.
Obviously, gays only care about thier agenda and the rest of us are pushed to the back of the bus.
This c/rap shouldn't be an election issue, when 30 states voted it down, and the majority of Americans won't vote for it.

[pines15]

11:24 AM on 05/06/2012

Goldman Sachs doing the right thing?It must be an anomaly?

[Erin84]

04:40 PM on 05/04/2012

Oh you lost a client? You should lose all of your clients. You belong rotting in a jail cell, and your company needs to be bankrupted paying back what it stole from the American tax payers.

[Mark Lawrence]

08:25 AM on 05/04/2012

Blankfein should be Bernie Madoffs cellmate.

[Andre Fabre]

06:23 AM on 05/04/2012

Let's call the whambulance...

[Justin Werner]

08:25 PM on 05/03/2012

Wait, I feel a tear coming on.... it's forming, globbing up, quivering to the violin music.... wait for it.... wait for it..... oops, it evaporated. I have now finished grieving for GS. Pardon me if I don't feel too reassured that GS is "on my side" (yeah, right) after their reputed part in the financial meltdown... it will last only as long as they find some sort of utility in having the position.

[cenourinha]

04:25 PM on 05/03/2012

wow...godlman sachs lost one whole customer? gosh I wonder how they'll be able to persevere?

[Posthuman]

03:36 PM on 05/03/2012

Heh, looks like they know who is going to have the voice of moral authority when the guillotine days come, and they're sucking up big time.

Hope it doesn't work.

[StopMakingSense2]

01:14 PM on 05/03/2012

If those are the grounds for their investment it's a small loss.

[RJofDC]

11:58 AM on 05/03/2012

The almighty dollar knows no color, creed, religion or sexual orientation. A dollar is a dollar and Gays have a lot of them.

[ema123]

01:47 PM on 05/03/2012

a business partner that Blankfein kept anonymous "didn't want to continue a relationship that they had with us" after the CEO publicized Goldman's stance on gay marriage. Blankfein was speaking to members of Out on the Street, an advocacy group that focuses on the LGBT community on Wall Street. Yeah "anonymous" if he is even telling the truth!

[Wayne Peterson]

11:16 AM on 05/03/2012

No, Lloyd.....GS did not lose a client.....it lost a Bigot!

[ema123]

01:48 PM on 05/03/2012

If it is even true sounds like a PR attempt!

[SeanMartin]

09:10 AM on 05/03/2012

You didnt lose him, you just misplaced him. He's behind the couch.

[LeeBessToad]

12:25 PM on 05/03/2012

Actually, he's probably in the closet.

[mgrant33301]

08:38 AM on 05/03/2012

the big wall str banks need anyone who will come to work without prejudice to their crooked practices, including the gay community.

[ILB]

08:26 AM on 05/03/2012

Oh, you poor thing. Does this mean no Hamptons this summer?

[freedom4allau]

09:44 AM on 05/03/2012

No, just means driving the Bentley instead of the Rolls.

[ILB]

01:00 PM on 05/03/2012

Oh the humanity!

[Panda Bear]

08:22 AM on 05/03/2012

How dumb is this CEO? The company name should not be used to side with any political issues period.

[Tribalenvy]

09:34 AM on 05/03/2012

This happens all the time, and those companies that pubically speak out have been on the side of marriage equality. There have been companies that privately support the anti-marriage view, but they do so as quietly as possible.

In WA before the vote Microsoft and Starbucks were to notable and public supporters.

In NC BofA spoke up against the current proposition taking place now.

It can be seen as good business to side with the equality issue. When it comes to pass these companies can promote their forward thinking views, as well as use it as a strong hiring tool demonstrating that they support equal rights and fair treatment of their employees/community.

There is a long list of companies that have spoken up on this issue already.

[LeeBessToad]

12:29 PM on 05/03/2012

Let's be accurate. BofA did NOT speak against the current proposition. One of the senior VPs, who acknowledged she was speaking on her own and not for the bank, spoke against the current proposition. As did the head of Duke Energy. He was clear -- he was speaking on his own, not on behalf of Duke. Now Microsoft and Starbucks (and many others too) did speak out as a corporation. But as far as the NC amendment fight, no corporations have come out in the fight -- either for or against.

It's great that the corporate leaders are speaking out (Duke's CEO's statement was particularly strong and wonderful). But the corporations need to come out as well. If BofA, who receives 100 from the HRC Equality Index wants to really show they support the LGBT community, fight Amendment One. Their silence is what the supporters of Amendment One want. Silence = support for Amendment One.

[ema123]

01:49 PM on 05/03/2012

A PR stunt and nothing more, I would not believe anything this guy says