Fair-minded consumers have a powerful new tool for
advancing workplace fairness with the release of the Human Rights
Campaign's buyer's guide. The publication – "Buying For Equality"
– highlights corporate policies on lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) equality and empowers consumers to make purchasing
decisions based on a company's score on the Human Rights Campaign
Foundation's nationally respected Corporate Equality Index.
"LGBT Americans are changing the policies of corporate America at the
check-out line," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.
"With an estimated $610 billion worth of buying power, this guide
empowers our community to easily support companies that take a stand for
fairness."
Hundreds of popular American brands are listed in the publication,
drawing simple distinctions between products, services and retail
outlets that consumers use on a daily basis. For electronics purchases,
the guide illustrates Best Buy's 100 percent score over Circuit City's
43 percent. For pet food, Iams' 86 percent tops Alpo's 29. Other
comparisons include: Aquafina over Poland Spring, Shell over ExxonMobil,
and Balance Bar over Powerbar.
Seventy percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are
very or extremely likely to consider a brand that is known to provide
equal workplace benefits for gay and lesbian employees, according to
research by Witeck-Combs Communications and Harris Interactive.
The buyers guide harnesses the power of the Human Rights Campaign
Foundation's Corporate Equality Index – a nationally recognized
scorecard of corporate policies affecting their LGBT employees including
domestic partner benefits and non-discrimination policies. This year, a
record 101 companies scored a perfect 100 percent on the index – more
than seven times the number of 100 percent scores when the index was
introduced in 2002.
"Ensuring equality for all employees on the job is good for the bottom
line and corporate America is responding in historic numbers," said
Solmonese. "We are using our collective purchasing power to continue to
influence change."
The guide is available online at www.hrc.org/BuyersGuide.
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