GLAAD president backs corporate LGBTQ embrace, calls for 'welcome, open' workplaces
The majority of Corporate America is enthusiastically backing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community, with Pride Month marketing blitzes that feature everything from logo changes and billboards, to donations and letters of support for equality.
According to Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of advocacy group GLAAD, corporate support — both internally and externally — has become necessary in a culture where LGBTQ concerns are increasingly prominent.
Larger segments of the population are identifying as gay or trans, according to recent Gallup poll that showed 1-in-6 Gen Z adults now identify as queer or transgender, compared to just over 9% of millennials. With those shifting tides comes a change in business strategy from the top down, Ellis said this week.
“If you’re thinking about attracting the next consumer set or attracting your next employee base, you need to offer an open and welcoming environment,” said Ellis, who spoke with Yahoo as part of Pride Evolution, an hour-long special on issues and progress within the LGBTQ+ community.
Ellis argued that companies need to put in the work internally through workplace practices and culture building, as well as externally. That includes opposing “bad legislation” and signing 'friend of the court' briefs that support “good legislation,” she said.
Yet that practice has drawn harsh scrutiny from opponents pushing back against the idea of Corporate America getting involved in highly charged political and cultural issues.
One such piece of legislation, the Equality Act, which aims to add protections for sexual orientation and gender identity to existing civil rights law, currently awaits consideration in the U.S. Senate.
“For all of the people who are marginalized in our community, in our country, it’s important that companies are open and welcoming and to use their power and their platform to advance acceptance and equality for the LGBT community,” Ellis told Yahoo.
Meanwhile, according to the Human Rights Campaign, nearly half of all Fortune 500 employers participated in the 2021 Corporate Equality Index, which measures the “policies, practices and benefits pertinent to LGBTQ employees.”
However, that progress in the working world hasn’t translated directly to other walks of life, according to Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David. In an interview, he pointed out that 29 states still don’t have comprehensive legal protections for LGBTQ people.
“I could go out to buy a brand new shirt in a retail store and I could face discrimination as a Black man or as a gay man, and I would have no protections under federal law,” David said.
You can catch Yahoo’s Pride Evolution in its entirety here, including interviews with comedian Margaret Cho, former WWE Wrestler Gabbi Tuft, activist Jazz Jennings, Olympic medalist Adam Rippon and more.
