Article: Wal-Mart quietly hires gay ad agency; Retail giant moves to court demo's dollars but stays mum on details.(Wal-Mart Stores Inc hires Witeck-Combs Communications and enters into a partnership with National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce)

Byline: MYA FRAZIER

In an unprecedented push, Wal-Mart Stores has hired a gay-marketing shop, joined the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and begun discussions with activist groups about extending domestic-partnership benefits to its employees.

"Wal-Mart is going about this in a very pragmatic way,'' said Justin Nelson, president of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, an independent organization with 24,000 members. "They have been viewed with some degree of skepticism by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community, and it's important for them in terms of gaining market share to change that.''

A Wal-Mart ...

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