2021 LGBTQ Business Equality Excellence Award Recipients

By BEQ Pride Editorial Team

The Business Equality Network announces our sixth annual Business Equality Excellence Award. The Business Equality Network and the BEQ Pride editorial team are committed to the development and success of the 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 Business Equality Excellence program allows us to bring attention to the need to align excellence in the workplace (based on the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index), marketplace (media and market presence showing LGBTQ engagement), supply chain (corporate partnership with NGLCC and membership in the Billion Dollar Roundtable) and philanthropy (engaging LGBTQ issues and charitable causes through monetary support). The program is about clearly identifying the business community and industry leaders supporting full equality for the LGBTQ community through business and economic inclusion.

Our 2021 list of 220 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.

But, it doesn’t end there. Our journey to full LGBTQ equality will not be successful without specifically addressing the economic disparities and systemic disenfranchisement faced by so many in the LGBTQ community. Our engine of economic prosperity is in danger of running out of fuel. The solution is full engagement with the diverse business community, including those in the LGBTQ community.

When it comes to business equality and access to equity, so much depends on how we engage people. Enabling the benefits of Belonging through inclusive sourcing — finding new routes to talent, new routes to market and, most importantly, the discovery of new markets — is the key to truly unlocking the promise of Diversity and Inclusion.

By 2045, the minority U.S. population will be the majority and the need to realize the true benefits of Diversity means we must address Inclusion and Belonging now. More than a seat at the table, the diverse business community wants inclusion and belonging to enable access to equity — a piece of the pie.

The injection of new ideas, different voices and perspectives and the creation of safe spaces that don’t sacrifice sacred spaces and dedicated spaces means we will have the ability to truly benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution — 4IR.

The technological advances promised by 4IR and Industry 4.0 are only as good as the people behind them. Laws, regulations, policies and practices are intended to address structural or systemic inequalities, especially in business — but, they only get us part way on our journey. People change hearts and minds, and people decide when and where to extend opportunity and access because it makes sense — business sense.

BEQ is dedicated to bridging the gap between efforts in the name of diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging and the need for equity — a chance to create and access a new pie for the diverse business community.

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Accenture
ADP, Inc
AEG
AIG
Airbnb
AJ Gallagher
Altria Group
Ameren Corporation
American Airlines
American Express
American Family Insurance
AmerisourceBergen
Amgen
Anthem, Inc.
Apple
Aramark
AstraZeneca
AT&T
Autodesk
AXA
Ball Corporation
Bank of America
Barclays
Barilla
BASF North America
Baxter International
Bayer
BBVA
Becton Dickinson
BestBuy
BlueCross BlueShield Association of Massachusetts
BMO Financial Harris Bank
BNY Mellon
Booz Allen Hamilton
Boston Scientific
BP America
Brex
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS)
Brown Advisory, Inc.
Caesars Entertainment Corporation
Capgemini
Capital Group Companies, Inc.
Capital One
Cargill
CBRE Group
CDW Corporation
Celgene Corporation
Chevron
Chubb
Citi
Citizens Bank
Citrix Systems, Inc
Coca-Cola Company (The)
Colgate-Palmolive Company
Comcast/NBC Universal
ConocoPhillips
Corteva
Cox Communications
Cummins, Inc.
CVS Health
Danone North America
Dell
Diageo
Dominion Energy, Inc.
Dow Chemical Company (The)
Dun & Bradstreet
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DuPont)
Eaton
Ecolab, Inc.
Eli Lilly and Company
Exelon
EY
Facebook
Fannie Mae
Federal Reserve Bank
Fiserv
Food Lion
Freddie Mac
GE Appliances
Genentech
General Mills
General Motors
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Global Payments
Goldman Sachs
Google
Hallmark
Hartford (The)
Health Care Service Corporation
Herman Miller
Highmark Health
Hilton
Humana, Inc.
Hyatt
IBM
Intel Corporation
Intuit
Iron Mountain
Jackson Lewis
Jefferson Healthcare
John Hancock
Johnson & Johnson
Jones Lang LaSalle
JPMorgan Chase
Kaiser Permanente
Kelley Drye & Warren, LLP
Kellogg Company (The)
Kohl’s
KPMG
Kroger Company (The)
L Brands
L’Oréal
LabCorp
Leidos
Liberty Mutual
Lockheed Martin
Lowe’s
Macy’s
Major League Baseball
ManpowerGroup, Inc.
Marathon Petroleum
Marriott International, Inc.
Mars
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
MassMutual
Mastercard
McGraw Hill
Medtronic
Merck & Co., Inc.
MetLife
MGM Resorts International
Micron
Microsoft Corporation
MillerCoors
Mondelēz International
Morgan Stanley
Nasdaq
National Basketball Association
Nationwide
New York Life Insurance Company
Nike
Northrop Grumman
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
Office Depot, Inc.
Peloton
PepsiCo
Pfizer
PG&E Corporation
Pitney Bowes
PNC Financial Services Group
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC)
Principal Financial Group
Procter & Gamble (P&G)
Professional Golf Association
Prudential Financial
Publicis Health
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated
Raytheon
RBC Wealth Management
Retail Business Services
Reynolds American
Robert Half
Rockwell Automation, Inc.
S&P Global
SalesForce
Sanofi
SC. Johnson Wax
Shell Oil Company
Siemens
Sodexo
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Southern California Edison
Southern Company Gas
Southwest Airlines
Standard Chartered Bank
Standard Insurance
Stanley Black & Decker
Staples
State Farm
Steel Case
SunTrust Bank
T-Mobile
Takeda (formerly Shire)
Target Corporation
TD Ameritrade, Inc.
TD Bank
TE Auto Americas
Teva Pharmaceuticals
Thermo Fisher Scientific
TIAA
Toyota Financial Services
TransUnion
TripAdvisor
Truist
Turner Broadcasting System. Inc.
Turner Construction
Twitter
U.S. Bank
U.S. Tennis Association
UBS
Unilever, PLC
United Airlines
Unum
UPS
USAA
Vanguard
Verizon
Viacom
Visa
Walgreens
Walt Disney Company (The)
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.
Warner Media
Wells Fargo
William Blair
Willis Towers Watson
Wyndham Destinations
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
Xcel Energy, Inc.
Zendesk