Sure, Santa is making his list and checking it twice—but you have some list checking to do as well.
It is a crime that in 2009, this is still an issue, but there are corporations and businesses out there that do not take care of all of their employees equally. We have a duty to NOT give them our business until they drag their sorry selves out of the dark ages. Luckily, we don’t have to do a ton of our own due diligence to find out what companies have been naughty and who has been nice.
The Human Rights Campaign has once again done the homework for us, for the fifth year. They have released their Buying For Equality 2010 list so we can check up before we spend. Hundreds of America’s most popular brands and stores are ranked and scored based on their treatment of LGBT employees. The guide is broke down into categories: Food and Beverage, Home and Garden, Apparel & Accessories, Banking & Finance, Eating Out, and Technology.
Just like when you were in school, the higher the score, the better they are. A “green” level makes every reasonable effort to provide workplace equality and gets a thumbs up for patronizing them. A “yellow” ranking business has some work to do but is on the way—shop there with discretion, and perhaps send along a message to management that your confidence would be better if their track record gets better. A “red” rating is given to a business that refuses to take part in the study or flat out does not work for equality. Don’t go there. They simply do not deserve your dollars. In addition to the stoplight colors, each business is also given a score, and in 2010, 305 of the businesses got a perfect 100%.
Buying For Equality 2010
Change by Doing 