WASHINGTON – Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today released the popular guide to hundreds of American brands rated on businesses’ treatment of LGBT employees.  “Buying for Workplace Equality 2013” divides businesses and their consumer products into red, yellow and green categories based on their score on HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, a nationally recognized benchmark of LGBT inclusion.  The guide is available for download and viewing online at www.hrc.org/BuyersGuide.

“It’s not often people think of ‘Black Friday’ as an occasion to take a stand for LGBT equality, but the HRC Buyers’ Guide is the tool fair-minded consumers need to do just that,” said HRC President Chad Griffin.  “With historic electoral wins for equality earlier this month, it is clear Americans care about how companies treat their LGBT workers.”

The LGBT community’s buying power is estimated at nearly $800 billion, according to research by Witeck Communications and Marketresearch.com. The research also shows the LGBT community is both savvy about companies’ inclusive policies and fiercely loyal to those companies who support LGBT workplace equality.

This is the eighth year the Human Rights Campaign Foundation has published the guide which has been viewed and downloaded more than 500,000 times at www.hrc.org/BuyersGuide.  The Buying for Workplace Equality iPhone application has also been updated and can be downloaded at www.hrc.org/iphone.

Additional background information on “Buying for Workplace Equality 2013”:

Buying for Workplace Equality is an annual publication of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation that empowers consumers to make informed purchasing decisions. The guide draws comparisons between products, services and retail outlets that consumers use on a daily basis. The ratings are based upon the HRC Corporate Equality Index, which this year rated 889 companies, including the entire Fortune 500. The CEI is the foremost method for businesses to evaluate their diversity and inclusion efforts toward recruiting and retaining LGBT employees, customers and investors — learn more at www.hrc.org/cei.

Categories: “Buying for Workplace Equality” divides businesses and their products into everyday purchasing categories, including:

• Apparel & Accessories
• Banking & Finance
• Food & Beverage
• Home & Garden
• Restaurants
• Technology

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

• Green (80-100): Businesses/brands that receive our highest workplace equality scores.
• 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:  Businesses/brands that have not responded to the survey despite repeated attempts and have been provided with an unofficial, estimated score based on publicly available information that has been collected.

HRC welcomes new relationships with businesses that have not responded to attempts to gather information on LGBT workplace policies and programs.

Featured Comparisons:

Starbucks 90 vs. Caribou Coffee 15 (estimate)

Nike 100 vs. Adidas 15 (estimate)

General Mills 100 vs. J.M Smucker 0 (estimate)

Nordstrom 100 vs. Neiman Marcus 15 (estimate)

Available via:

Web: www.hrc.org/buyersguide

iPhone Application: www.hrc.org/iphone

SMS Text: Text “Shop” and the name of a brand or business to 30644 and a score will be returned

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.