Human Rights Campaign released the eleventh edition of its Corporate Equality Index last week, and the numbers confirm exactly what we've been seeing over the last twelve months - that support for the LGBT community from the business world has never been greater.
HRC says a record 252 businesses achieved a top rating of 100 percent this year. Compare that with the first edition of the Corporate Equality Index, just ten years ago, in which only 13 businesses earned perfect scores. And the more successful a business is, the more likely it is to be LGBT-affirming. 110 of the Fortune 500-ranked businesses achieved a perfect 100 percent rating, including 13 of the top 20 Fortune-ranked businesses.
Companies earning a perfect score include GLAAD corporate partners and supporters like AT&T, Diageo North America, Wells Fargo, American Airlines, Comcast, Coca-Cola, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Orbitz, MillerCoors, Time Warner, Prudential Financial, Yahoo! Inc., Automatic Data Processing, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Caesars Entertainment, DLA Poper, Dorsey & Whitney, E&J Gallo Winery, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, MetLife, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, MillerCoors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sempra Energy, Sheppard, Millia, Richter & Hampton, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Southern California Edison Co., Toyota Financial Services, Verizon Communications, and Walt Disney Company.
“Corporate America continues to raise the bar in workplace fairness,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “LGBT-inclusive workplace policies are not only the right thing to do and good business practices, they are the new normal. Americans have spoken, and as we celebrate our victories at the ballot box, we hope Congress will follow corporate America’s lead and create a level playing field – including passing fully-inclusive workplace non-discrimination legislation.”
HRC also found that companies were not just supporting LGBT employees or customers, many were supporting all of the LGBT people in their communities, by pushing for positive change at the local, state and federal level. Overall, HRC says 74 major businesses and law firms took a public stand in support of pro-LGBT measures, including several that played large roles in the successful campaigns in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington.
"These results show that more and more companies have realized that supporting LGBT people not only strengthens our society and our communities, but is a good business decision," said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick. "The records that were broken this year should be broken again next year, and every year after that until all LGBT people are supported in our jobs and in the businesses we patronize."
The full results can be viewed or downloaded at HRC's website.