Category: Social & Civil Issues

Today, HRC announced it had recruited 104 top businesses — employing more than 5.8 million people — as corporate cosponsors on the Equality Act. By joining HRC’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act, these companies have stepped up to support full federal equality for LGBTQ people through the Equality Act, landmark federal legislation that would provide the same basic nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people as other protected groups under federal law.

“The more than 100 businesses that have joined HRC’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act are sending a loud and clear message that the time has come for full federal equality,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “This is a milestone in corporate support for the Equality Act, and we urge Congress to listen to this growing chorus of American businesses and protect all LGBTQ people from discrimination.”

“At Cargill, one of our guiding principles is that we treat people with dignity and respect.  Everyday around the world our employees go to work to deliver on our noble purpose of being the  leader in nourishing the world in a safe, responsible, and sustainable way,” said Cargill Chief Diversity Officer Willard McCloud. “To do so, we believe it’s critically important that those very same employees and their families feel safe and affirmed, not only at work, but in the communities in which they live, shop, and send their children to school.  Cargill’s support of the Equality Act is fundamental to ensuring that all of our employees feel as safe in their communities as they do in our offices, and are not discriminated against in housing, access to credit, employment or other opportunities.”

“As the first company to publicly support passage of the federal Equality Act in the United States, we recognize the fight for equality is far from over,” said Cory Valente Global Leader for the LGBTQ and allies Employee Resource Group at Dow Chemical. “No one should be fired, evicted from their home, or denied services because of who they are. Supporting inclusion and equality is the right thing to do – for business and for society.”

Launched in March 2016, HRC’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act includes companies with operations in all 50 states, headquarters spanning 23 states, and a collective revenue of $2.6 trillion. In total, these companies employ more than 5.8 million people across the United States.

The Equality Act creates clear, consistent protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment ensuring that LGBTQ employees are hired, fired, and promoted based solely on their performance. In addition, the bill provides protections from discrimination for LGBTQ people in housing, education, credit and jury service. It would also prohibit discrimination in public accommodations and federal funding on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. Today, in 31 states, LGBTQ people remain at risk of being fired, evicted or denied services because of who they are.

First introduced in 2015 by Representative David Cicilline (D-RI) and by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), the Equality Act is currently co-sponsored by 241 members of Congress.

The overwhelming majority of Americans across the political spectrum support full federal equality for LGBTQ people. Polling released last year by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that support for a bill like the Equality Act topped 70 percent nationally, including a majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents. PRRI’s groundbreaking survey included 42,000 interviews in 50 states and found majority support for the Equality Act in all 50 states.

Major corporations in the HRC Business Coalition for the Equality Act include Abercrombie & Fitch Co.; Accenture; Adobe Systems Inc.; Advanced Micro Devices Inc.; Airbnb Inc.; Alcoa Inc.; Amazon.com Inc.; American Airlines; American Eagle Outfitters; American Express Global Business Travel; Apple Inc.; Arconic; Ascena Retail Group Inc.; Automatic Data Processing Inc.; Bain & Co. Inc.; Bank of America; Best Buy Co. Inc.; Biogen; Boehringer Ingelheim USA Corp.; Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.; Boston Scientific Corp.; Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc.; Brown-Forman Corp.; CA Technologies Inc.; Caesars Entertainment Corp.; Capital One Financial Corp.; Cardinal Health Inc.; Cargill Inc.; Chevron Corp.; Choice Hotels International Inc.; Cisco Systems Inc.; The Coca-Cola Co.; Corning Inc.; Cox Enterprises Inc.; CVS Health Corp.; Darden Restaurants Inc.; Delhaize America Inc.; Diageo North America; The Dow Chemical Co.; Dropbox Inc.; E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DuPont); eBay Inc.; EMC Corp.; Facebook Inc.; Gap Inc.; General Electric Co.; General Mills Inc.; Google Inc.; HERE North America LLC; The Hershey Company; Hewlett Packard Enterprises; Hilton Inc.; HP Inc.; HSN Inc.; Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP; Hyatt Hotels Corp.; IBM Corp.; Intel Corp.; InterContinental Hotels Group Americas; Johnson & Johnson; JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Kaiser Permanente; Kellogg Co.; Kenneth Cole Productions; Levi Strauss & Co.; Macy’s Inc.; Marriott International Inc.; MasterCard Inc.; Microsoft Corp.; Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams; Monsanto Co.; Moody’s Corp.; Nationwide; Navigant Consulting Inc.; Nike Inc.; Northrop Grumman Corp.; Office Depot Inc.; Oracle Corp.; Orbitz Worldwide Inc.; Paul Hastings LLP; PepsiCo Inc.; Procter & Gamble Co.; Pure Storage Inc.; Qualcomm Inc.; Replacements Ltd.; S&P Global Inc.; Salesforce; SAP America Inc.; Sodexo Inc.; Symantec Corp.; Synchrony Financial; T-Mobile USA Inc.; Target Corp.; Tech Data Corp.; TIAA; Twitter Inc.; Uber Technologies Inc; Under Armour Inc; Unilever; Warby Parker; WeddingWire Inc.; Whirlpool Corporation; Williams-Sonoma Inc.; and Xerox Corp.

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Today, HRC responded to Trump-Pence administration’s announcement that they will be rescinding Title IX guidance related to schools’ obligations to address sexual harassment, including sexual violence.

“With today’s announcement, Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration have clearly drawn a line in the sand, stating that they prefer it be more difficult for survivors of sexual assault to receive justice,” said David Stacy, director of government affairs at the Human Rights Campaign. “LGBTQ Americans face disproportionate levels of sexual assault and violence. This unconscionable decision — coupled with the decision to rescind guidance aimed at protecting transgender students — sadly indicates that the Department of Education is no longer in the business of protecting students from harm.”

Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding. While historically known for its impact on women’s athletics admissions, Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination, as a matter of law, also requires schools to address sexual harassment, including sexual violence, as forms of sex discrimination. In addition, Title IX protects students from discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, as evidenced by continuing case law, guidance previously issued by the Department of Education, and school district settlements to this effect.

LGBTQ people are disproportionately affected by sexual assault and harassment, and the stigma that many LGBTQ people face can make it more difficult for survivors to report. Studies suggest that nearly half of bisexual women have been raped and half of transgender people will experience sexual violence at some point in their lifetimes. According to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a national survey of high school students, lesbian and bisexual women and gay and bisexual men experienced higher rates of sexual assault than their straight counterparts. In addition, a 2015 study by the Association of American Universities found that 60 percent of gay and lesbian students and nearly 70 percent of bisexual students report being sexually harassed on campus.

In February, DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions also withdrew important guidance that clarified schools’ obligations to protect transgender students from discrimination under Title IX.

According to the most recent data, more than 22,000 children and youth are in foster care in Florida, with nearly 6000 awaiting adoption. Research tells us that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented among these young people in out-of-home care. Thanks to an exciting collaboration with Children’s Home Society of Florida (CHS), HRC’s All Children – All Families (ACAF) project’s impact in the Sunshine State is about to increase exponentially, helping many more child welfare workers welcome and support LGBTQ youth and families.

ACAF provides resources to foster care and adoption agencies across the U.S. to help them better serve the LGBTQ community. A large part of this engagement is providing LGBTQ competency training, which gives social workers the knowledge and skills they need to understand and serve LGBTQ youth and families. In order to really make a difference, LGBTQ training needs to be offered on an ongoing basis and LGBTQ content should be embedded throughout an agency’s training program.

ACAF now offers a “Training of Facilitators” program to build an agency’s internal capacity to provide LGBTQ training routinely. Last December, ACAF piloted this program for CHS. Over the course of a full week, CHS trainers were prepared to deliver ACAF’s expert training. This August, after additional planning and preparation, the facilitators began delivering the training to colleagues throughout the state.

Once completed, the training rollout will include more than 2000 CHS staff members. The agency serves more than 50,000 children and family members every year throughout Florida. CHS’s website makes the organization’s commitment to strengthening families clear: “We believe in a world where children realize their full potential. We believe in turning odds into opportunities. And we’re leading the way.”

As the first agency in the country to conduct a Training of Facilitators with ACAF, CHS puts these words into action and HRC is proud and appreciative of this partnership.

Learn more about All Children–All Families’ work to promote LGBTQ cultural competency in adoption and foster care at hrc.org/acaf.

Want to stay up-to-date on All Children – All Families resources and activities? Subscribe to “Field Forward,” the program’s monthly e-newsletter at hrc.im/field-forward.

Pictured from left to right: Karey Scheyd, ACAF Training Manager; Alison Delpercio, HRC’s Deputy Director of Children, Youth & Families Program; Garry Bevel, ACAF Expert Trainer; CHS Staff Members: John Miller, Arminda Jones, Rebecca Gonzalez, Elizabeth Phelps, Alexandra Fields, Rene Ledford and Sam Oliver.

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The recent decision by Catholic University’s seminary and two other Catholic institutions to cancel speeches by the Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit priest and author of a book encouraging the Catholic Church to open dialogue with the LGBTQ faithful, has again highlighted the deep gulf between the church’s laity and its conservative leaders.

HRC’s own polling shows that an overwhelming majority of Catholics in the pews support LGBTQ equality, including marriage equality and employment protections. A recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute also found that a majority of Catholics reject the notion that businesses should be allowed to use religion as a guise to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

But for many of the church’s conservative leaders, acceptance of LGBTQ people violates the tenets of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which still characterizes “homosexual acts” as “intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law,” and names “homosexual tendencies” as “objectively disordered.”

That’s why Martin’s book, Building a Bridge, published earlier this year, has re-energized the debate about the LGBTQ faithful. It has not only predictably ignited vicious attacks from far right Catholic websites, but, encouragingly, it has also prompted many in the Catholic community — including leaders like San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy — to call for an end to the church’s “long-standing bigotry” against LGBTQ people.

“The concerted attack on Father Martin’s work has been driven by three impulses: homophobia, a distortion of fundamental Catholic moral theology, and a veiled attack on Pope Francis and his campaign against judgmentalism in the church,” Bishop McElroy wrote in an op-ed in America Magazine.

“I think it is important to notice who the author is — a priest,” said Frank DeBernardo, Executive Director of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBTQ Catholics, While Catholic theologians, scholars and lay leaders have tackled the issue of LGBTQ inclusion, it’s far more unusual for a priest to speak out.

In his book, Martin, appointed by Pope Francis as counselor to the Vatican’s Secretariat ( a counselor or adviser in the Catholic Church) for Communications, provides a roadmap for repairing and strengthening the bonds that unite all of God’s children. He writes that criteria at the heart of the Christian ministry — “respect, compassion, and sensitivity” — should guide how the Catholic Church relates to the LGBTQ community.

On his Facebook page, Rev. Martin said he’s received overwhelming support since the controversy began.  

“I am so grateful!” he wrote. “And, as I said a week ago, thanks to so many things — most of all, Jesus being close to me in prayer, and the support of my Jesuit superiors and brothers — I am at total peace.”