Back in the June 2012 timeframe, I posted several blogs referencing the position companies in America have taken regarding the rights of the LGBT community as reflected in their corporate or company policies. For anyone following the issues – political, legal, social, whatever – faced by this community over the past year, there has been some real positive change achieved – key events I’ve also tried to capture as they happen in my blogs. While there has been a good deal of positive movement forward it is unfortunate we still have the haters and bigoted core of people who see their mission to ensure that anyone different – in most ways – from themselves be held to the same rules of life they profess to hold – not necessarily live by but at least say the words. My view on these people need not be repeated in this particular blog as it is very evident in most of what I have written – basically a pox on these dim-witted and heartless cretins. Sorry – I digress.
But with all the progress I think we’ve seen this past year, we can’t forget we still need to get the message out where we can actually influence. While I don’t expect to ever change their views – it takes an active mind and ability for them to think and reason – I still submit the best approach is in what remains the greatest lever we have as a country – hit them in their pocketbooks. We all have the opportunity to choose where we spend our money – or where we don’t spend it. The HRC or Human Rights Campaign Foundation provides us an ongoing view of how Corporate America takes account of equality across our people, particularly in terms of how the workplace approaches Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality. Every year they publish their Corporate Equality Index (CEI) and the publication for 2013 was recently released. This is the 11th year of the Index and it has provided a good means to track how we are doing in the Workplace no matter the inequities and bias that remains in the various levels of our government. There is a wealth of information available in the publication to which I can’t really give justice so I would suggest a visit to their site – http://www.hrc.org/ – or http://www.hrc.org/corporate-equality-index/#.UozWxOLyQYk to view or download the actual Corporate Equality Index publication. While I’m happy to say that the company where I am employed is in that group of Fortune 100 corporations scoring a perfect 100 on the CEI scale, the number of major corporations that remain out there in 2013 that don’t is astounding as well as a disgrace.
Some of the good news: Despite the reality that people can be legally denied a job or fired simply for their sexual orientation in 29 states and their gender identity in 34, Corporations in America have ignored antiquated and biased legislation to provide these protections in their company. From the report – “For the first time in history, a majority of the Fortune 500 offers both sexual orientation and gender identity protections. Beyond these basic and essential protections, record numbers of Fortune-ranked and other major businesses have comprehensively updated their benefits packages to ensure that newcomers to their workplaces can expect both partner benefits and transgender-inclusive benefits and that retiring LGBT workers will see the financial benefits that they have worked so hard to accrue will go to their surviving family members.”
From HRC.com
The bad news is that there are still many corporations and companies who remain staunchly opposed to equality in this space. The HRC site has a great tool that should help you decide where you might want to open your wallet and more importantly where not. Their “Buyer’s Guide” is located at http://www.hrc.org/apps/buyersguide/index.php#.UozaNeLyQYk. Here you can view, by shopping category, those companies which excel in workplace equality as well as those companies where progress has been essentially non-existent. To help us when we are on the go, they actually have an Iphone application for anyone with mobile Apple devices. For other mobile platforms (Android, Windows 8) they offer the ability to access the data from any mobile phone by just texting SHOP and the company or product name to 30644.
While I have had some insight into the companies I don’t want to buy from, in reviewing the information across the categories in the Buyer’s Guide I was astounded by some of the companies that remain in the social dark ages. I’m sad to say that a good number of my purchases have been from companies in the list below – just one example of the information in the Guide – it includes the Company, their brands, their overall CEI rating (Green, Amber, Red) and their actual CEI score. Guess I won’t be purchasing that Rolex any time soon…..
I wish I could easily provide all the data but it is just too extensive but I would suggest you at least take a quick stop at one of the links I’ve indicated above and become a more informed consumer and shopper. We’ve all been made aware of the companies that extensively use sweat shops and basically slave labor to provide their products from overseas (hello, Walmart?) – maybe we need to be a bit more discerning of how companies that do business on our own shores treat our sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, friends, whatever – your choice of whose success you want to support. Is it possible to stop shopping at all the sub-par companies? Probably not unfortunately given the wide expanse of ones we all typically shop at but, to quote Chinese philosopher Laozi – “The longest journey begins with the first step”.
NOTE: The following copied directly from the HRC Buyer’s Guide
Apparel & Accessories
| Business | Rating | Rank |
| Abercrombie & Fitch abercrombie kids; Gilly Hicks; Hollister; |  |
100 |
| Gap Athleta; babyGap; Banana Republic; GapBody; GapKids; Old Navy; Piperlime; | |
100 |
| Levi Strauss Denizen; Dockers; Levi’s; Signature by Levi Strauss & Co.; | |
100 |
| Limited Brands Henri Bendel; La Senza; Pink; Victoria’s Secret; | |
100 |
Nike  Cole Haan; Converse; Hurley; NIKE Golf; Umbro; |
|
100 |
| Nordstrom 1901; Calibrate; Classiques Entier; Halogen; HauteLook; Jeffrey; Last Chance; Nordstrom Direct; Nordstrom Rack; Public Opinion; Trouvé; Zella; | |
100 |
| Sears Apostrophe; Canyon River Blues; Covington; Jaclyn Smith; Joe Boxer; Lands’ End; Structure; | |
100 |
| Target C9 by Champion; Cherokee; Circo; Gilligan & O’Malley; Honors; In Due Time; Liz Lange; Merona; Mossimo; Nick & Nora; Utility; Xhilaration; | |
100 |
| TJX HomeGoods; Marshalls; T.J.Maxx; | |
100 |
| A|X Armani Exchange | |
95 |
| American Eagle 77kids; aerie; | |
95 |
| J.C. Penney a.n.a; Ambrielle; American Living; Arizona; Arizona Jean Co.; cooks; Decree; east5th; Every Day Matters; J. Ferrar; Linden Street; Okie Dokie; St. John’s Bay; Stafford; Studio; Worthington; | |
95 |
| Bon-Ton Stores Bergner’s; Boston Store; Carson Pirie Scott; Elder-Beerman; Herberger’s; Younkers; | |
90 |
| Kenneth Cole Gentle Souls; Kenneth Cole New York; Kenneth Cole Reaction; Le Tigre; Unlisted; | |
90 |
| Macy’s Alfani; American Rag; Bar III; Bloomingdale’s; Charter Club; Club Room; Epic Threads; First Impressions; Giani Bernini; Greendog; I.N.C.; Jenni by Jennifer Moore; JM Collection; Martha Stewart Collection; Style & Co.; Tasso Elba; |
|
90 |
| Ralph Lauren Chaps; Club Monaco; Denim & Supply; Lauren; Lauren Jeans Co.; Ralph Lauren Black Label; Ralph Lauren Childrenswear; Ralph Lauren Collection; Ralph Lauren Golf; Ralph Lauren Purple Label; RLX; RRL; Rugby; | |
90 |
| REI Novara; REI Private Brands; | |
90 |
| Tiffany & Co. | |
90 |
| Fifth & Pacific Juicy Couture; kate spade; Lucky Brand Jeans; Mac & Jac; | |
85 |
| A�ropostale P.S. from Aéropostale; |  |
75 |
| Coach Reed Krakoff; | |
75 |
| Hanover Direct International Male; Silhouettes; UnderGear; | |
70 |
| The Jones Group Anne Klein; Bandolino; Easy Spirit; Enzo Angiolini; Evan-Picone; Gloria Vanderbilt; Joan & David; Jones New York; Judith Jack; Kasper; l.e.i; Le Suit; Mootsies Tootsies; Napier; Nine West; Rachel Roy; Sam & Libby; | |
70 |
| L.L. Bean | |
65 |
| Burlington Coat Factory Cohoes; MJM Designer Shoes; | |
60 |
| Hanesbrands Bali; Barely There; Champion; Duofold; Gear for Sports; Hanes; Just My Size; L’eggs; Outer Banks; Playtex; Wonderbra; | |
60 |
| PVH Arrow; Bass; Calvin Klein; IZOD; Tommy Hilfiger; Van Heusen; | |
60 |
| H&M | |
55 |
| Brown Shoe Avia; Buster Brown; Dr. Scholl’s Shoes; Famous Footwear; Franco Sarto; Lifestride; Naturalizer; rykä; Sam Edelman; Vera Wang Lavender; Via Spiga; |  |
35 |
| Ann Taylor LOFT; | |
30 |
| J. Crew crewcuts; Madewell; | |
30 |
| The Men’s Wearhouse K&G; Twinhill; | |
30 |
| Adidas Reebok; Rockport; TaylorMade; | |
15 |
| Burberry | |
15 |
| Collective Brands Airwalk; Keds; Payless ShoeSource; Saucony; Sperry Top-Sider; Stride Rite; | |
15 |
| Donna Karan DKNY; | |
15 |
| Foot Locker CCS; Champs Sports; Eastbay; Footaction; Kids Foot Locker; Lady Foot Locker; | |
15 |
| Guess? G by GUESS; GUESS by Marciano; GUESS kids; | |
15 |
| Neiman Marcus Bergdorf Goodman; CUSP; Last Call; | |
15 |
| Urban Outfitters Anthropologie; BHLDN; Free People; | |
15 |
| VF 7 For All Mankind; Bulwark; Eagle Creek; Eastpak; Ella Moss; JanSport; John Varvatos; Kipling; Lee; lucy Activewear; Majestic; Napapijri; Nautica; Red Kap; Reef; Rock & Republic; Seven for all Mankind; SmartWool; Splendid; The North Face; Timberland; Vans; Wrangler Jeans; | |
15 |
| Warnaco Group Olga; Warner’s; | |
15 |
| Berkshire Hathaway Acme Boot; Fruit of the Loom; Garan; H.H. Brown Shoe Company; JERZEES; Justin Brands; Russell Athletics; Spalding; | |
0 |
| Cabela’s | |
0 |
| Chico’s Boston Proper; Soma; White House/Black Market; | |
0 |
| Dolce & Gabbana D&G; | |
0 |
| Fossil | |
0 |
| Giorgio Armani Armani Collezioni; Armani Jeans; Emporio Armani; | |
0 |
| Gucci Alexander McQueen; | |
0 |
| Quiksilver DC Shoes; Gnu; Hawk; Lib Tech; Radio Fiji; Roxy; | |
0 |
| Rolex | |
0 |
| Ross Stores dd’s DISCOUNTS; | |
0 |
| Under Armour | |
0 |
| Versace | |
0 |
notthebestoftimes... 