From Breakingviews: With so much left to do for LGBTQ rights, corporate support during Pride month matters more than companies' ultimately self-serving motivations via johnsfoley
NEW YORK - Are there any companies that aren’t proud to be allied with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities? Judging by the rainbow designs plastered across billboards, store fronts and email signatures as cities like New York prepare for their Pride festivities, it’s tempting to believe the answer is no. It’s easy to be cynical, but short-term profit doesn’t explain the outbreak of conspicuous support sweeping corporate America.
High-profile LGBT leaders remain scarce at large companies – Dow chief Jim Fitterling and Apple’s Tim Cook are rare examples – but treatment of LGBT employees and customers has come a long way. More than 570 businesses earned a 100% rating in the Human Rights Campaign’s LGBT-focused Corporate Equality Index this year, more than twice the number 10 years ago.
The idea that companies shouldn’t do such things has become mainstream. Cracker Barrel now has an LGBT staff alliance along with a comprehensive non-discrimination policy and offers the same benefits to same-sex married couples as it does those of different sexes. The $230 billion Shell is an outspoken supporter of LGBT communities. Numerous studies have shown that such a position is good for shareholders and profitability, to the point where saying so has become a truism.
Exxon’s example is encouraging, in that it shows that companies can change their views even when they don’t strictly have to. It’s not the only one that’s catching up with society more broadly. The Human Rights Campaign’s annual ranking of big U.S. companies gave oil and gas businesses a median score of 50 out of 100 this year. Not great, but better than the miserable 20 out of 100 the same companies notched up three years ago.
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