The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees List

As the school year winds down and job searches pick up, are you wondering which companies are America's most LGBT friendly. Diversity Inc. just published their own list of the 10 ten best employers for LGBT Americans:

What makes a company the right place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender employees--and their friends and families--to work? To determine this list, we looked at several factors, including inclusive benefits for same-sex partners of employees, strong diversity training programs, recruitment efforts aimed at LGBT people and the vitality of the company's LGBT employee-resource group.

Since the workplace demographic data on LGBT employees is inconclusive (most companies don't ask about orientation, and even those that do believe a certain segment is uncomfortable coming out), we also include ratings from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)'s Corporate Equality Index (CEI), which measures workplace rights for LGBT individuals. No company can be on our Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees list that doesn't receive a 100 percent CEI rating. Interestingly, 74 percent of The 2009 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® received a 100 percent CEI rating this year, compared with 52 percent in 2006 and 28 percent in 2004.

We also examined the company's web site to assess its visible commitment to the LGBT community, as well as its relationships with external organizations such as the HRC and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). And we gave companies extra points for marketing to the LGBT community and for use with LGBT suppliers certified by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Here are the top 10 and a reason why each of them made the list:

No. 1: Ernst & Young, No. 3 in the DiversityInc Top 50. Also No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities

The Big Four firm has a strong employee network for LGBT employees called Beyond Professional Resource Network. E&Y spends 0.5 percent of its total procurement budget with certified LGBT contractors. The company's nondiscrimination policy includes gender identity.

No. 2: Wells Fargo & Co., No. 31 in the DiversityInc Top 50. Also No. 8 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention; No. 10 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Latinos; and No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans

Well known for its efforts to reach out to LGBT customers, the San Francisco-based bank offers its LGBT employees and their partners benefits equal to those of heterosexual partners. Its diversity training includes sexual orientation and gender-identity components.

No. 3: PricewaterhouseCoopers, No. 5 in the DiversityInc Top 50. Also No. 1 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Global Diversity Companies

The firm's commitment to its LGBT employees is clear in its collateral material and on its web site, where its inclusive policies are emphasized. It has a strong LGBT resource group, called GLBT Mentoring Circles.

No. 4: IBM Corp., No. 10 in the DiversityInc Top 50. Also No. 1 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities; No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity; No. 4 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans; and No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Global Diversity Companies

IBM has strong ties to the LGBT community, as demonstrated by its philanthropy to such groups as International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, International Lesbian and Gay Association, Out for Work, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Gay Men's Health Crisis and others.

No. 5: Aetna, No. 48 in the DiversityInc Top 50. Also No. 7 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities

Aetna's president, Mark Bertolini, is a strong advocate for the company's LGBT employees and received an Out & Equal Champions Award in 2007. The company has very strong benefits for its LGBT employees and their partners, as well as an excellent LGBT employee-resource group.

No. 6: KPMG, No. 21 in the DiversityInc Top 50. Also No. 10 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities

The Big Four accounting firm, which is being honored this year at GLSEN's Respect Awards for its commitment to LGBT equality, has a strong employee-resource group for LGBT workers and has excellent benefits for LGBT employees and their partners, including coverage for transgender treatment.

No. 7: Sodexo, No. 6 in the DiversityInc Top 50. Also No. 3 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention; No. 3 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for African Americans; No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Latinos; No. 1 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Executive Women; and No. 9 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities

The company has excellent benefits for LGBT employees and their partners, including bereavement leave, relocation assistance and retiree healthcare benefits. It also has mandatory diversity training for managers, including sexual orientation and gender identity.

No. 8: AT&T, No. 2 in the DiversityInc Top 50. Also No. 7 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention and No. 1 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for African Americans

The company has a strong employee-resource group for LGBT employees, called LEAGUE -- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered United Employees at AT&T. The company has strong benefits for LGBT employees, including adoption assistance.

No. 9: Cisco Systems, one of DiversityInc's 25 Noteworthy Companies. Also No. 3 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities and No. 4 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Global Diversity Companies

Cisco is a supporter of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007, has excellent benefits for LGBT employees and their partners, and has been a strong supporter of LGBT nonprofits.

No. 10: Johnson & Johnson, No. 1 in the DiversityInc Top 50. Also No. 4 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention; No. 5 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans; and No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Executive Women

The company has strong diversity training that includes orientation and gender identity as well as first-rate benefits for LGBT employees and their partners.

HRC Launches Endthelies.org

The Human Rights Campaign launched a new website this past week. When the right-wing attacks the LGBT community, their messages usually consist of one main ingredient - lies. HRC's EndtheLies.org will help you counter to those lies with the truth. EndtheLies.org has videos, audio, pictures and quotations calling out those who knowingly use lies and misinformation to disrupt the LGBT community's path to equality. Users can add comments on multimedia discussion boards, learn how to fight the far-right's misdeeds and nominate their own candidates for inclusion on the interactive wall of shame.

Click here to find more!

Three is a charm: Trio of youth centers cater to young, Black, gay population in ATL

Article by Ryan Lee 6/13/2008


AS MORE GAY YOUTH COME OUT OF THE closet at an earlier age, the number of gay youth centers in Atlanta continues to increase. There are currently three self-standing gay youth centers in the heart of the city: Da C.R.I.B.B. in Grant Park, Youth Pride in Inman Park and AID Atlanta’s Evolution Center downtown.


“We need all three in the city right now,” says Frances-Ann Moran, board president of YouthPride. “We need to have as many options available for young people. They have the same issues that youth who aren’t LGBTQ have, and they have issues that are compounded.”


Established in 1995, YouthPride is the largest and longest-operating of the three gay youth groups, serving about 200 youth per month. The organization recently created an in-house counseling position that it hopes increases its abilities to help gay youth deal with the variety of struggles the experience.


“We realized we had a need for it when our staff reached out to the executive director and board saying it was an urgent need,” Moran says.



After a seven-month search, YouthPride hired Tana Hall, a licensed professional counselor who specializes in youth and family issues. Hall is also a former board chair of YouthPride, and Moran hopes her familiarity with the organization will jumpstart the organization’s counseling project.“It’s not a stranger, it’s not setting up an appointment in a new place - it’s creating a space where youth are comfortable talking about their lives,” she says. But the prolonged search for a new counselor also further exposed challenges YouthPride has had diversifying its leadership. Throughout the entire search process, not a single African-American with a counseling license applied for the job, Moran says.“That for us highlighted the need for us to continue to reach out to the community, and building relationships, and healing wounds,” Moran says. “Quite frankly, [YouthPride has not been] able to historically deliver a truly diverse organization on the adult level and the youth level.” With African-American gay and lesbian youth accounting for nearly half of YouthPride participants, they “need folks who look like them in positions of power, and who they can look up to,” she said.


AFRICAN-AMERICAN GAY YOUTH ARE THE primary target demographic of both Da C.R.I.B.B. and the Evolution Project, two CDC-funded initiatives aimed at reducing HIV/AIDS infection rates among young gay black and Latino men.“It helps to bring this generation some awareness and education about HIV/AIDS, but it also gives them a safe space to be who they are,” says Jon Gabriel Ortiz, director of Da C.R.I.B.B., which stands for Creating Rich Intelligent Black Brothas.


Read The entire Article at: http://www.sovo.com/2008/6-13/locallife/feature/8692.cfm

New Scholarship Addresses Old Problem

What is believed to be the first, local, needs-based scholarship for LGBT college students, a philanthropist couple, Tim and Neil Griffin, have made an effort to advance and assist the LGBT students in their area. The scholarship, appropriately titled the Griffin Scholarship, is sponsored by Time Out Youth - a support group for youth ages 13 to 23 who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered - who have also agreed to administer the program. The Griffins committed to provide two $2,500 scholarships annually by collecting donations at community events they sponsor. Scholarship recipients must be from the Charlotte area and attend a college or technical school in the Carolinas.
“Neil and I believe that education is the key to a successful life,” said Tim Griffin. “So we decided that an LGBT scholarship fund was the most important impact we could make on the lives of young people in our community.”
Many scholarships directed at LGBT students place an emphasis on shown leadership in the community, ethnic diversity, and the almighty report card. The Griffin scholarship is the first of its kind to focus merely on financial need.
“Many LGBT youth are disconnected from their high schools or lack financial support from their parents, making college an unreachable goal,” said Judy Seldin-Cohen, board chair of Time Out Youth. “With the Griffin’s foresight, Time Out Youth can bridge that gap for two deserving youth each year, changing the trajectory of their futures.”
Juan Vazquez, one of two recipients of the newly offered scholarship, is a first generation college student and will be attending N.C. Central University in Durham.
Azze Waldron, the second recipient, 'came out' as gay while her parents were going through a divorce, which drastically had an effect on her grades. She will be attending Central Piedmont Community College.

Read More about the scholarship: http://www.timeoutyouth.org/?page_id=23
... And: http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/671612.html

New Study Concludes LGBTQ Blacks and Latinos more Likely to Attempt Suicide

A new scientific study released by authors of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University finds that LGBTQ Blacks and Latinos are more likely to attempt suicide than LGBTQ Whites are. The study samples 388 New York residents ages 18-59 and concludes that Latinos are at a substantially higher risk at attempting suicide than Blacks who are at a slightly higher risk than Whites are. However, to the surprise of everyone involved, LGBTQ Blacks are least likely to suffer from mental illness, anxiety or mood disorders than LGBTQ Whites and Latinos who are pretty even in mental disorder prevalence. The study concludes that its original hypothesis is wrong, which states, “Black and Latino lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals have more mental disorders than do White lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals because they are exposed to more stress related to prejudice and discrimination associated with their race/ethnicity.”

Also related to the study, the authors find that bisexuals in general are more likely to suffer from substance abuse, but are least likely to suffer from mood disorders and mental illness.

The study’s conclusion brings about new questions like, ‘what elements actually provoke mental illness?’ because we now know prejudice and discrimination based on race are not obvious elements in generating mental disorders OR ‘what are the natural outcomes of mental illness?’ because we now know suicide or drug abuse are not natural indications of mental disorders.

Read More About the study: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1413899/lifetime_prevalence_of_mental_disorders_and_suicide_attempts_in_diverse/