The Words Matter

On September 15, 1992, Procter & Gamble added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy. Federal protection didn’t come until the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling.

Michael Chanak Jr., a Cincinnati resident who worked at P&G from 1984 until he retired in 2003, is credited as the lead advocate for the change. His work began in 1987, while he was on the Peridex business team. Peridex was an oral antimicrobial rinse that worked against oral yeast infections, and P&G marketed it directly to dentists for that use. Chanak argued that if the company was going to sell to the LGBTQ+ community, it needed to claim that community.

It took five years of recommendations and rejections before the policy changed in 1992. The next day, the Enquirer reported the change in its business section.

The company didn’t formally acknowledge Chanak’s role until August 29, 2017: “Your courage led to P&G’s inclusion of the LGBT community into our diversity statement 25-years ago.” In 1993 he was named Pride Marshal for this work. In 2018, P&G recognized him at its annual GABLE meeting for “Courageous Leadership.”

Three films

P&G went on to produce three short films about this history. The Ohio Lesbian Archives supplied archival materials for the first two.

• The Words Matter: One Voice Can Make a Difference (April 2018, 19 min.), made with CNN’s Great Big Story, featuring Michael Chanak Jr. It won a Silver Lion at Cannes.
• Out of the Shadows: Risking Their Careers for Equality (June 2019, 25 min.) covers the years after the change: the founding of GABLE, the fight for domestic partner benefits, and the use of company e-mail to communicate.
• They Will See You Now: Visibility in LGBTQ+ Advertising (May 2020, 13 min.) was nominated by GLAAD for a Media Award.