HRC releases
pro-gay buyer's guide

As the holiday shopping season heats up across America, consumers who want to support workplace equality for gays and lesbians now have a powerful tool. "Buying for Equality," a new buyer's guide from the gay rights group Human Right Campaign, highlights corporate policies on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality. The publication allows consumers to make purchasing decisions based on a company's score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's nationally respected Corporate Equality Index, a scorecard of corporate policies affecting their gay employees, including domestic-partner benefits and nondiscrimination policies.

"LGBT Americans are changing the policies of corporate America at the checkout line," said HRC president Joe Solmonese. "With an estimated $610 billion worth of buying power, this guide empowers our community to easily support companies that take a stand for fairness."

Hundreds of popular American brands are listed in the publication, drawing simple distinctions between products, services, and retail outlets that consumers use on a daily basis. For example, shoppers considering where to buy electronic goods can choose between Best Buy, which has a 100% score, or Circuit City, with its 43% score. For pet food, Iams's 86% tops Alpo's 29%.

Seventy percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are very or extremely likely to consider a brand that is known to provide equal workplace benefits for gay and lesbian employees, according to research by Witeck-Combs Communications and Harris Interactive. "Ensuring equality for all employees on the job is good for the bottom line, and corporate America is responding in historic numbers," Solmonese said. "We are using our collective purchasing power to continue to influence change."

The guide is available online at www.hrc.org/BuyersGuide. (Advocate.com)