Supporting GLBT-Friendly Businesses
Since it’s the holidays, consumer spending habits are at the forefront of a lot of folks’ minds, often in ways that might get ignored the rest of the year. Gay Rights Watch has an interesting article that reaffirms my general inclination, which is that one should try to support stores that do good work politically, recognizing that it’s not always possible and that the situation is often incredibly complicated. I’ve detailed my concerns with Target on my personal blog, but there are a lot of different factors that can go into deciding which businesses you want to support.
As a starting point, Gay Rights Watch suggests “Googling ‘your city’ and ‘gay and lesbian yellow pages’” to see if you can actively support those businesses who do well, rather than always figuring out which businesses should be avoided. According to the comments in that post, this can also save you money, as those yellow pages often contain coupons. A good place for researching larger corporations is the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, which details workplace policies and politics of the Fortune top 1000 businesses, as well as many others. If you’re looking for a specific company, you can always search their employer database. Additionally, their Buying for Equality 2008 Guide details which businesses one might want to support on a sliding scale. It also offers “a few ways you can help fight for equality every day,” which include:
1. Share this information with your friends, family and co-workers. Help them to become supporters of equality by using the information in this guide.
2. Advocate for equality in the workplace. If your company isn’t on this list or you think they can do better, go to www.hrc.org/cei to find out how to get them engaged.
3. Get active about equality. Sign up for newsletters and Action Alerts at www.hrc.org/actioncenter.
Can’t everyone use a few small steps for equality?
Image via Lifehacker, link via Gay Rights Watch.
holiday shopping, GLBT, GLBT Friendly businesses, HRC, Corporate Equality Index
holiday shopping, GLBT, GLBT Friendly businesses, HRC, Corporate Equality Index
December 13th, 2007 at 2:22 am
[...] of a peaceful balance. Family alone is no longer the sole foundation of a peaceful society. Industry and commerce are large factors, and one can contribute quite well to industry and commerce without being part of that kernel [...]