2018 LGBTQ Business Equality Excellence Award winners

The Business Equality Network announces the second annual LGBTQ Business Equality Excellence Award. The Business Equality Network and the BEQ Pride editorial team are committed to the development and success of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer business community. We place special emphasis and acknowledge support for organizations and major employers that have made diverse and inclusive workplace, multicultural engagement, and supply chain diversity not just a matter of policy, but a matter of practice.

Once a year, we honor organizations that are fostering economic stability in the LGBTQ community through the fair treatment and inclusion of LGBTQ employees, suppliers, consumers and partners in business. These organizations are recognized for their demonstrated practice of Business Equality Excellence.

The 2018 list of 156 major corporations, employers and sports organizations have demonstrated their comprehensive commitment to LGBTQ equality. Simply put, our awardees routinely deliver an unmistakable message that the country and each state where they are headquartered cannot ignore — diversity and inclusion matter. Their increased visible, vocal and financial commitment to equality in the workforce, workplace, marketplace and supply chain of their respective organizations contributes to the economic climate locally, nationally and around the world.

The overwhelming majority of our awardees are among the Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality as recognized by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s recently released 2018 Corporate Equality Index. Each organization has active LGBT employee resource groups or resources set aside for employees to form an employee or business resource group. All have demonstrated a vigorous dedication to bringing LGBT-owned businesses into their supply chains and are active with LGBTQ business organizations including a corporate partnership with NGLCC: National LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

By the numbers

A number of our Business Equality Excellence Awardees are taking every opportunity to support the LGBTQ community with inclusive procurement goals and federal advocacy for equality. There are 16 of the 27 Billion Dollar Roundtable —organization recognizing and celebrating corporations that have achieved $1 billion spend with diverse suppliers— members. The BDR recently adopted a policy that expands eligible spend to include certified LGBT business enterprises. Also on the list are 45 of the over 100 leading U.S. employers supporting the Equality Act, a federal legislation that would provide the same basic protections to LGBTQ people as are provided to other protected groups under federal law. Our Business Equality Excellence Awardees are leading the way with their money and influence.

The Business Equality Network and BEQ Pride Magazine salute our 2018 Awardees and look forward to telling their stories in the year ahead — from their support of LGBTQ entrepreneurs; to highlights of their events and best practices; profiles of their movers and shakers; and their bold leadership to protect the rights of LGBTQ individuals.

The Front Lines of LGBTQ Business Equality

South (Purple)

Altria Group* Richmond, VA
American Airlines*† Fort Worth, TX
AT&T* BDR Dallas, TX
Bank of America† BDR Charlotte, NC
BP America* Houston, TX
Capital One*† McLean, VA
Citrix Systems* Fort Lauderdale, FL
Cox Communications*† Atlanta, GA
Darden Restaurants*† Orlando, FL
Delhaize America*† Salisbury, NC
Dell* BDR Round Rock, TX
Delta* Atlanta, GA
DuPont*† Wilmington, DE
Fannie Mae* Washington, DC
FedEx* Memphis, TN
Fidelity Investments* Jacksonville, FL
First Data* Atlanta, GA
Florida Blue* Jacksonville, FL
Freddie Mac* McLean, VA
GlaxoSmithKline* Research Triangle Park, NC
Hilton Worldwide*† McLean, VA
Humana* Louisville, KY
Ingersoll Rand* Davidson, NC
Kimberly-Clark Corporation* Irving, TX
Lockheed Martin* Bethesda, MD
Marriott International*† Bethesda, MD
Northrop Grumman*† Falls Church, VA
Office Depot* Yes Boca Raton, FL
PGA of America Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Shell* Houston, TX
Sodexo*† Gaithersburg, MD
Southwest Airlines* Dallas, TX
SunTrust* Atlanta, GA
TD Bank Group* Wilmington, DE
Toyota Financial Services* BDR Plano, TX
Turner Broadcasting* Atlanta, GA
UPS* Atlanta, GA
USAA* San Antonio, TX

NorthEast (Blue)

Accenture*† New York, NY
ADP* Roseland, NJ
Aetna* Hartford, CT
AIG* New York, NY
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.*† Pittsburgh, PA
American Express*† New York, NY
Barclays* New York, NY
Bayer* Whippany, NJ
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts* Boston, MA
BNY Mellon* New York, NY
Bristol-Myers Squibb* New York, NY
Charter Communications* Stamford, CT
Chubb Group of Insurance Companies* Philadelphia, PA
Cigna* Bloomfield, CT
Citi* New York, NY
Colgate-Palmolive*† New York, NY
Comcast/NBCUniversal* BDR Philadelphia, PA
Corning*† Corning, NY
CVS Health*† BDR Woonsocket, RI
Diageo*† Norwalk, CT
Dun & Bradstreet* Short Hills, NJ
EY* New York, NY
Hartford, The* Hartford, CT
HBO* New York, NY
Highmark Health* Pittsburgh, PA
IBM*† BDR Armonk, NY
InterPublic Group* New York, NY
John Hancock* Boston, MA
Johnson & Johnson*†BDR New Brunswick, NJ
JPMorgan Chase* Yes New York, NY
Kelley Drye* New York, NY
KPMG* New York, NY
Liberty Mutual* Boston, MA
Major League Baseball New York, NY
Marsh & McLennan Companies* New York, NY
MassMutual* Springfield, MA
Merck*BDR Kenilworth, NJ
MetLife* New York, NY
Mondelēz* East Hanover, NJ
Morgan Stanley* New York, NY
NBA New York, NY
New York Life Insurance Company* New York, NY
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation* East Hanover, NJ
PepsiCo*† Purchase, NY
Pfizer* New York, NY
PNC Financial Services Group* Pittsburgh, PA
PricewaterhouseCoopers* New York, NY
Prudential* Newark, NJ
Raytheon* Waltham, MA
Sanofi* Bridgewater, NJ
Staples* Framingham, MA
Teva Pharmaceuticals* North Wales, PA
TIAA*† New York, NY
Time Warner Inc.* New York, NY
Travelport* Parsippany, NJ
Turner Construction* New York, NY
US Tennis Association White Plains, NY
Verizon* BDR New York, NY
Viacom* New York, NY
Warner Bros.* New York, NY
Wyndham Worldwide* Parsippany, NJ

West (Red)

Amgen* Thousand Oaks, CA
Apple*† BDR Cupertino, CA
Caesars Entertainment*† Las Vegas, NV
CBRE Group* Los Angeles, CA
Chevron*† San Ramon, CA
Cisco*† San Jose, CA
CSAA Insurance* Walnut Creek, CA
Facebook*† Menlo Park, CA
Genentech* South San Francisco, CA
Google*† Mountain View, CA
Hewlett Packard Enterprise*† Palo Alto, CA
Intel*† Santa Clara, CA
Intuit* Mountain View, CA
Kaiser Permanente*† BDR Oakland, CA
MGM Resorts International* Las Vegas, NV
Microsoft*† BDR Redmond, WA
Pacific Gas & Electric Company* San Francisco, CA
SalesForce*† San Francisco, CA
Sedgwick LLP* San Francisco, CA
Sony Pictures Entertainment* Culver City, CA
Southern California Edison* Rosemead, CA
Standard Insurance* Portland, OR
T-Mobile*† Bellevue, WA
Uber*† San Francisco, CA
Walt Disney Company,The* Burbank, CA
Wells Fargo* San Francisco, CA

Midwest (Green)

Allstate* Northbrook, IL
Ameren Corporation* St. Louis, MO
Ameriprise Financial* Minneapolis, MN
Anthem, Inc.* Indianapolis, IN
Baxter International* Deerfield, IL
Cargill*† Wayzata, MN
CDW* Lincolnshire, IL
Cummins* BDR Columbus, IN
Eli Lilly* Indianapolis, IN
Enterprise Holdings, Inc.* St. Louis, MO
General Mills*† Minneapolis, MN
General Motors* BDR Detroit, MI
Hallmark Cards* Kansas City, MO
Health Care Service Corporation* Chicago, IL
Hyatt*† Chicago, IL
Jones Lang LaSalle* Chicago, IL
Kellogg Company*† Battle Creek, MI
L Brands* Columbus, OH
Medtronic* Minneapolis, MN
MillerCoors* Chicago, IL
Monsanto*† St. Louis, MO
Nationwide*† Columbus, OH
Principal Financial Group* Des Moines, IA
Procter & Gamble*†BDR Cincinnati, OH
RBC Wealth Management* Minneapolis, MN
Rockwell Automation* Milwaukee, WI
State Farm* Bloomington, IL
Target*† Minneapolis, MN
United Airlines* Chicago, IL
US Bank* Minneapolis, MN
W.W. Grainger* Lake Forest, IL

* 2018 HRC CEI­­­
† Equality Act
BDR Billion Dollar Round Table

Coming Soon: 2018 BEQ Pride LGBTQ Corporate Eminence Award

Eligibility: Open to the 156 employers recognized for 2018 Business Equality Excellence

Application Period: April 2, 2018 through May 15, 2018 close of business

Description: One BEQ Pride LGBTQ Corporate Eminence Award is given each calendar year. Our definition of Eminence is a conferred high status or importance due to marked superiority in LGBTQ business equality. The BEQ Pride 2018 LGBTQ Corporate Eminence Award is a designation of distinction conferred on one of the 156 LGBTQ Business Equality Excellence Awardees for outstanding efforts to include and support the LGBTQ business community in their supply chain, workplace, marketplace and philanthropic initiatives.

For more information contact:

awards@BusinessEqualityNetwork.com or call 669-237-2329