Here's How Businesses Can Be True LGBTQ Allies | Opinion
represents $1.46 trillion in global purchasing power, corporate brand and reputation on LGBTQ issues is fast becoming a business imperative.The rising tide of support for LGBTQ rights (eight in 10 Americans support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people), coupled with changing expectations of what corporate citizenship means, translates into an expectation that corporations will live out their stated allyship to the LGBTQ community.Business allies and corporate partners are making strides in the struggle for equality, but there remains a distance between allyship that checks boxes and authentic allyship that impacts lives and livelihoods—hindering the realization of a truly inclusive world.
It's what we at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) call the "Ally Gap."To help businesses—of all shapes, sizes, and disciplines—close the gap between authentic allyship and surface-level solidarity, we are thrilled to launch our inaugural corporate citizenship report, The LGBTQ+ Corporate Citizen: A Framework for Emerging Best Practices in Allyship.
This first-of-its-kind report goes beyond foundational workplace inclusion, urging companies to examine their operations, policies, and practices through an action-focused lens.
It builds on more than 20 years of HRC working with corporate America to advance LGBTQ inclusion and has six key pillars: workforce, supply chain, products & services, marketing, corporate philanthropy, and advocacy and political engagement.
