LGBT Rights Groups and Corporate Monsters
OK. HRC, specifically.
From the "Lie down w. dogs..... get up w. fleas" dept.
Article reposted from LGBT Forum ( kudos to JoeyBee, btw.).
EVERYONE should see this.
>>>>The Human Rights Campaign's compilation of the perfect-scorers from their Corporate Equality Index is so bad it's almost farcical.
Every year, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) -- the oldest surviving gay lobbying group--puts out a "Corporate Equality Index," (CEI) listing all the corporations that are alleged to be friends of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans people. In turn, HRC compiles the top-scorers from the CEI to form the list of the "best places to work."
A strange list of qualifications--including meaningless gestures like having an "employee group or diversity council," whatever that means--is used to score companies on the CEI. But from what I can tell, earning a perfect score doesn't substantially require much more than a non-discrimination hiring policy and a vague willingness to tolerate employees who take an interesting in wearing t-shirts with the company logo at Pride parades. Within the scoresheet, there's no consideration of the larger picture of a corporation's actions, its misdeeds, or how working for a company on this list oftentimes means working directly for, or closely with, enemies of equality.
While HRC says it costs nothing to be on the list, this whole thing looks like a red carpet rolled-out for donations to the HRC. One of the criteria for inclusion on the list is philanthropic support of at least one LGBT organization or event--should I just make the check out to "H-R-C"?
Your corporation will lose 25 points if you give "to organizations whose primary mission includes advocacy against LGBT equality." But no points lost for funding legislators who run on a right-wing platform of social conservativism, by far the bigger threat. By enshrining anti-gay bias into law or using the bully pulpit to demean LGBT people, a Congressional legislator can do a hell of a lot more damage than an organization that just happens to be anti-gay.
What's curious is how little attention or ire this self-righteous circle-jerk engenders among the gay media, who don't seem to have said much--if anything--about it lately, despite the fact that this is the primary measuring-stick for determining which soul-sucking cubicle farms are the most gay-friendly in the country. And no one seems to be making a fuss about it on Twitter (#CEI2015) besides me, so I can only assume that the gay community is onboard for this kind smoke-and-mirrors, hand-wavey, dog-and-pony-show. Either that, or we're all just so jaded about the fact that HRC is a tool for corporate interest that no one figured it was even worth breaking out the Picard-facepalm.jpg.
But for funsies, let's take a look at some of the biggest, and worst, companies on this list to see how deep this rabbit hole goes.
While you're reading, keep in mind that the only way to get on this list of "best places to work" for LGBT people is to earn a perfect score on HRC's Corporate Equality Index.
AT&T: As one of the biggest corporate donors to anti-gay Republican looney-toons like Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann, and Pete Sessions (who said the Taliban was a "model" for how the GOP can become an "insurgency"
, this company is effectively aiding and abetting politicians who oppress and demean LGBT people. (Source)
Humana and Cigna: Both insurance companies, both accused of gouging customers on copayments and co-insurance for drugs used to treat HIV. (Source)
Bank of America: Settled for a pittance with a couple they denied a mortgage to because they were gay; hired a NOM-supported, anti-gay activist as the company's team-building coordinator; stole $3.3 million from Texas taxpayers and then split the bounty with the state's Attorney General so he wouldn't hold them accountable; knowingly moved money for narco-traffickers; and, oh yeah!, contributed to the collapse of the U.S. housing market. (Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Leo Burnett Company: The advertising firm for Philip Morris (the biggest, baddest tobacco company), which recommended it market to gay people as an emerging market. Basically: "Kill the gays, but slowly, and make sure you take their money first!" And remember those homophobic Manwich ads that abused men for thinking like "sissboys"? This company made them. (Sources: 1, 2)
Boeing: Just two years after using pension survivor benefits of same-sex married couples as a bargaining chip against their union, this company earned a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index. Not to mention the CEO's recent public joke about how employees "cower" in his presence. What a mensch -- I'm sure he does his part to make this one of the "best places to work" for LGBT people. (Sources: 1, 2, 3)
Bristol-Myers Squibb: A pharmaceutical company which was sued for overcharging the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. It also paid out over $150 million in fines when it was discovered the company fraudulently inflated its sales and earnings in order to create the false appearance that it had met Wall Street analysts' earnings estimates. (Sources: 1, 2)
Lockheed Martin: This war profiteer, which is one of the largest recipient of government mo>>>>>
the article:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-krueger/gay-list-of-the-best-plac_b_6358042.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
= new reply since forum marked as read
