From Airbnb to Audi, companies used their advertising airtime during the 2017 Super Bowl to embrace the values of inclusion and equality. And those values are increasingly shared by consumers looking to spend their dollars to make a statement for equality.

To help direct consumers to companies that value LGBTQ inclusion in their workplaces, the HRC Foundation has released its annual Buying for Workplace Equality guide. The guide, first issued a more than a decade ago by the HRC Foundation, provides invaluable consumer information based on company scores reported in the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI), as well as HRC-researched data on additional well-known companies and their brands.

“Businesses continue to lead the way on LGBTQ equality,” said Liz Cooper, HRC Foundation, Associate Director, Corporate Equality Programs. “The brands behind this year’s most talked about Super Bowl ads demonstrated that they know consumers are looking for companies that reflect their values of fairness and equality. The Buying for Workplace Equality guide is a powerful tool for LGBTQ and equality-minded consumers, providing a quick reference to those familiar, popular brands that are also prioritizing LGBTQ inclusion.”

The new guide includes more than 750 companies, 597 of them rated in the CEI, and an additional 160 independently researched by the HRC Foundation. A total of 5,037 affiliated businesses and brands are featured in this year’s report. Companies independently researched have declined invitations to actively participate in the CEI; their scores are based on publicly-verifiable information. The sectors featured are:

Apparel & Accessories
Banking & Finance
Food & Beverage
Home & Garden
Restaurants
Technology
Retailers
Entertainment
Oil and Gas
Shipping
Fun and Games
Pet Care
Automotive
Newsstand
Household Products
Insurance and Healthcare
Health and Beauty
Kids
Travel and Leisure

Businesses and their products are divided based on their CEI rating into red, yellow and green categories so that consumers can easily determine which brands support LGBTQ workplace equality:

Green (80-100): Businesses/brands with the highest workplace equality scores.
Human Rights Campaign National Corporate Partners The support of these businesses is directly tied to the Human Rights Campaign’s success in ensuring equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. All HRC National Corporate Partners are required to maintain a CEI score of 85 or above.
Yellow (46-79): Businesses/brands that have taken steps toward a fair-minded workplace and receive a moderate workplace equality score.
Red (0-45): Businesses/brands that receive our lowest workplace equality scores
Italics (Non-responder): Businesses/ brands that have not responded to the survey despite repeated attempts and have been provided with an estimated score based on publicly available information that has been researched.

Now more than ever, it is important to support businesses that support equality. To read the 2017 Buying for Workplace Equality, visit: http://www.hrc.org/apps/buyersguide/