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'Gay-friendly'
firms up 41% 
Marriott, Macy's, Mastercard, Yahoo!
join homosexual group's annual list

As the House prepares to vote on a bill banning discrimination against homosexuals, another 57 corporations have been added to an annual list of the nation's "gay-friendly" major businesses, an increase of 41 percent over last year.

For the sixth year, Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual-rights group, released its Corporate Equality Index of businesses earning a perfect score of 100.

The score is based on employers' treatment of "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender" employees. It measures factors such as non-discrimination policies, diversity training and benefits for domestic partners and transgender employees.

An unprecedented 195 major corporations received a perfect score, compared to just 13 companies when the index began in 2002. Also, for the first time, a majority of rated firms – 58 percent – provide employment protections on the basis of "gender identity."

"More businesses than ever before have recognized the value of a diverse and dedicated workforce," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "More importantly, these employers understand that discrimination against GLBT workers will ultimately hurt their ability to compete in the global marketplace."

Among the companies new to the list this year are Allstate Insurance, Marriott International, Macy's, Mastercard, Yahoo! and Waste Management Inc.

Meanwhile, Rep. Barney Frank predicts the House will soon approve the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would make it illegal for employers to make decisions about hiring, firing, promoting or paying an employee based on "sexual orientation or gender identity." The bill, which would exempt churches and the military, likely will face a tougher fight in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster or presidential veto.

Solmonese maintained the elements of the bill already have been "overwhelmingly embraced" by U.S. employers.

"It's the right thing to do for our economy and for our country," he said.

HRC noted at least 282 U.S. cities and towns, along with 19 states, have added workplace protections against discrimination based on "sexual orientation" in both public and private sector jobs.

In addition, more than 93 local jurisdictions and 11 states have laws that include protections based on "gender identity."

The Corporate Equality Index this year rated 519 businesses.

One of the newcomers to the list of companies scoring a perfect 100, Yahoo!, declared its pride at being part of a "pioneering group that has stepped up to create a more inclusive work environment for today's diverse employee groups."

Cammie Dunaway, chief marketing officer and executive sponsor of the LGBT employee group at Yahoo!, also said the company values its "tens of millions of LGBT consumers around the world and are always looking for ways to further connect them to the information, passions, and communities that matter most to them, on our Yahoo! LGBT Pride site and across our network."

Leading the way on HRC's list is the banking and financial services industry, with 32 companies scoring 100 percent. This year, there are 30 law firms with the top rating, up from 12 last year.

Among mail and freight delivery companies, United Parcel Service scored 100 while FedEx received a 55, because it does not provide benefits for domestic partners company-wide, including to married same-sex couples in Massachusetts.

In the transportation and travel services industry, Travelport – known for its popular site Orbitz.com – is the first to receive a perfect score.

Other companies receiving a perfect score weighed in.

Sprint Nextel's senior vice president of Human Resources, Sandy Price, said her company is "working hard to create an inclusive workplace that ensures all voices and points of view are valued and respected."

Hayward Bell, chief diversity officer for Raytheon Co., said his company's perfect score "reflects the strides that our company has made to build a culture that recognizes, respects and leverages individual and cultural differences. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is our undeniable pathway to success for individuals and the company – for everyone, every day and everywhere."

General Motors' vice president for corporate responsibility and diversity, Rod Gillum, said the automaker's perfect Corporate Equality Index score is "our way of showing GLBT customers that we support the community and appreciate their business."

Brian Schipper, senior vice president for Human Resources at Cisco Systems Inc., said his company appreciates "the work of the HRC for continuing to provide this important benchmark of corporate policies and practices."

Homosexual-rights group's 'perfect' corporations
195 U.S. businesses recognized for benefiting 'lesbian, gays, bisexual, transgender' employees

Below is the list, in alphabetical order, of companies scoring a perfect 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign's 2008 Corporate Equality Index, with policies beneficial toward homosexuals:

   1. AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah

   2. Abercrombie & Fitch

   3. Accenture

   4. Adobe Systems

   5. Aetna

   6. Agilent Technologies

   7. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld

   8. Alcatel-Lucent

   9. Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America

  10. Allstate

  11. Alston & Bird

  12. American Express

  13. Ameriprise Financial

  14. American Airlines

  15. Anheuser-Busch Companies

  16. Aon

  17. Apple

  18. Arnold & Porter

  19. AT&T

  20. Bain & Co.

  21. Bank of America

  22. Bausch & Lomb

  23. Bear Stearns

  24. Best Buy

  25. Bingham McCutchen

  26. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals

  27. Boeing

  28. Borders

  29. Boston Consulting Group

  30. BP America

  31. Bright Horizons Family Solutions

  32. Brinker International

  33. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co

  34. Bryan Cave

  35. Capital One

  36. Cargill

  37. Carlson Companies

  38. Charles Schwab

  39. Chevron

  40. ChoicePoint

  41. Chrysler

  42. Chubb

  43. Cisco Systems

  44. Citigroup

  45. Clear Channel Communications

  46. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton

  47. Clorox

  48. CMP Media

  49. CNA Insurance

  50. Coca-Cola

  51. Coors

  52. Corning

  53. Countrywide Financial

  54. Credit Suisse

  55. Crowell & Moring

  56. Cummins

  57. Dell

  58. Deloitte & Touche

  59. Deutsche Bank

  60. Dewey Ballantine

  61. Dickstein Shapiro

  62. Dorsey & Whitney

  63. Dow Chemical

  64. DuPont

  65. Eastman Kodak

  66. Electronic Arts

  67. Eli Lilly & Co.

  68. Ernst & Young

  69. Estee Lauder

  70. Esurance

  71. Faegre & Benson

  72. Fannie Mae

  73. Foley & Lardner

  74. Foley Hoag

  75. Ford

  76. Freescale Semiconductor

  77. GameStop

  78. Gap

  79. Genentech

  80. General Mills

  81. General Motors

  82. GlaxoSmithKline

  83. Hyatt

  84. Goldman Sachs

  85. Google

  86. Harrah's

  87. Hartford Financial Services

  88. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

  89. Heller Ehrman

  90. Herman Miller

  91. Hewitt Associates

  92. Hewlett-Packard

  93. Holland & Knight

  94. Honeywell International

  95. Hospira

  96. HSBC USA

  97. IndyMac Bancorp

  98. ING North America Insurance

  99. Intel

 100. IBM

 101. Intuit

 102. J.C. Penney

 103. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

 104. Jenner & Block

 105. Johnson & Johnson

 106. Kaiser Permanente

 107. KeyCorp

 108. Keyspan Corp

 109. Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group

 110. Kirkland & Ellis

 111. KPMG

 112. Kraft Foods

 113. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel

 114. Latham & Watkins

 115. Lehman Brothers

 116. Levi Strauss

 117. Lexmark International

 118. Liz Claiborne

 119. Macy

 120. Marriott International

 121. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance

 122. MasterCard

 123. McDermott Will & Emery

 124. McKinsey & Co.

 125. Mellon Financial

 126. Merck & Co.

 127. Merrill Lynch & Co.

 128. MetLife

 129. Microsoft

 130. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo

 131. Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams

 132. Morgan Stanley

 133. Morrison & Foerster

 134. Motorola

 135. National Grid USA

 136. Nationwide

 137. NCR

 138. New York Times

 139. Newell Rubbermaid

 140. Nike

 141. Nixon Peabody

 142. Nordstrom

 143. Northern Trust

 144. Northrop Grumman

 145. O'Melveny & Myers

 146. Oracle

 147. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

 148. Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP

 149. PepsiCo

 150. Pfizer

 151. PG&E

 152. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

 153. Powell Goldstein

 154. PricewaterhouseCoopers

 155. Principal Financial Group

 156. Prudential Financial

 157. Raytheon

 158. Recreational Equipment Inc.

 159. Replacements Ltd.

 160. S.C. Johnson & Son

 161. Schering-Plough

 162. Sears

 163. Sidley Austin

 164. Sodexho

 165. Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal

 166. Sprint Nextel

 167. Starbucks

 168. Starcom MediaVest

 169. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

 170. State Street Corp.

 171. Subaru of America

 172. Sun Microsystems

 173. SunTrust Banks

 174. Supervalu

 175. Tech Data

 176. Time Warner

 177. Toyota Motor Sales USA

 178. Travelport

 179. U.S. Bancorp

 180. UBS AG

 181. United Parcel Service

 182. US Airways Group

 183. Viacom

 184. Visa

 185. Volkswagen of America

 186. Wachovia

 187. Walgreens

 188. Walt Disney

 189. Washington Mutual

 190. Waste Management

 191. Wells Fargo & Co.

 192. Whirlpool

 193. Wyndham Worldwide

 194. Xerox

 195. Yahoo!

Brothers and Sisters,

All I can say is WOW!

Many of these are huge companies with unknown numbers of subordinate companies who aren't listed. SO, what does this tell us?

It might be difficult or impossible to boycott all of them, especially if one considers the subordinate companies and affiliates.

The big money and power folks are embracing the devil, and you should be able to guess many things that will come next.

We can and should be praying, and none of our responsibilities have changed.

Yeah I started off going well they are off my list and so are they and them and them......then I went there is no way I can simply boycott all of those.  And like you said many of them own other companies or are owned by bigger companies.

As was said it would be impossible to boycott them all because of the parent company thing but I'm going to give it my best shot anyway.

Brother,

I'll take another look at this and see what might be involved. Some of these companies are so big that they would represent conglomerates. I'll guess there are some on this list that are actually 30 Plus companies. In reflection, I should have said that I'll look at what would be involved and pray about this, and that's what I'll do. I'll try to share what I find out.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Amen to that.  Need to copy and paste then print the list.  Let my SS class take a look and they can pray about it too.

You know I wonder how many of these were sued into compliance?

That's a good question.

I know that was not the case with Ford Motor Co. and Starbucks but it is always a possibility with some of the others.