The Advocate’s “Best Companies” List Includes Discrepancy with HRC Index
The corporate rankings just keep rolling in. After HRC last week and Working Mother yesterday, The Advocate today released its 2006 list of 10 companies it feels are good places for LGBT workers. This year’s 10 join 85 others (all unranked) that the magazine has picked in the past.
It’s notable that three companies fell off the full list this year: Donna Karan International, which dropped to a 57 on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index; Mobil, after rescinding its domestic-partner benefits after merging with Exxon; and Fannie Mae, which, despite its perfect 100 score on HRC’s list, contributed money from its corporate foundation to anti-gay causes, including $50,000 to the Traditional Values Coalition. Kudos to The Advocate for spotting this.
Just goes to show once again that corporate ratings may serve as useful guidelines, but shouldn’t be used in isolation.
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[...] As I’ve written before, though, these numbers may be useful guidelines, but should be used in conjunction with other data to make purchase decisions. (I’m also all for supporting independent, local businesses, not just the mega-corporations.) On behalf of our transgender colleagues, however, I have to say to all of these companies, “Get with it, folks.” If you’ve made the leap to covering sexual orientation, including gender identity is not that big a next step, and will help you win the respect of an LGBT market that’s soon to reach $687 billion in buying power. [...]
[...] As I’ve written before, there is conflicting information about a company’s LGBT friendliness, even within the community. Bring in other factors like race, gender, and the environment, and the situation gets even more complicated. [...]