{"id":26599,"date":"2023-06-23T14:16:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T18:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/news\/which-companies-are-true-lgbtq-allies-figuring-it-out-can-be-tricky-for-consumers-but-heres-how\/"},"modified":"2023-06-23T14:16:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T18:16:02","slug":"which-companies-are-true-lgbtq-allies-figuring-it-out-can-be-tricky-for-consumers-but-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=26599","title":{"rendered":"Which companies are true LGBTQ+ allies? Figuring it out can be tricky for consumers \u2014\u00a0but here\u2019s how."},"content":{"rendered":"

With heightened anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in the U.S. and hundreds of bills that would negatively affect LGBTQ+ rights introduced in the 2023 legislative session, some consumers who want to align their spending and investing with their values might find it trickier than ever to do so. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s because many companies that have declared support for LGBTQ+ people continue their typical practice of donating to politicians on both sides of the aisle \u2014 even as some of those politicians work to roll back LGBTQ+ rights.<\/p>\n

\n

From the archives (June 2022):<\/strong> AT&T, Charter Communications, GM and more donated to politicians backing anti-LGBTQ laws \u2014 and are now loudly celebrating Pride Month<\/p>\n

A survey by Charles Schwab
\n SCHW,
\n -0.42%<\/bg-quote>
\n last year found that three-fourths of American consumers cared about the values of the companies whose products they buy, and 81% said corporate values influence their investing decisions.<\/p>\n

But Americus Reed, a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School who studies how social factors influence consumer behavior, said it\u2019s \u201ceasy for people to report\u201d that certain issues are important to them. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the rubber meets the road, will you boycott? Will you \u2018buycott\u2019? Will you inconvenience yourself?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018That data is actually out there\u2019<\/h2>\n

Consumers could put real pressure on companies, said Fabrice Houdart, the executive director of the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors and a consultant to Fortune 500 companies. \u201cMy grandmother used to tell me that if consumers in the world would unite, they could change anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Houdart added, though, that many consumers\u2019 lack of information \u2014 and a lack of transparency by companies about their political donations, alongside highly publicized corporate donations to LGBTQ+ advocacy groups \u2014 all make it \u201cdifficult to know who is the good guy and the bad guy.\u201d In addition, he and others said, companies can have a great track record on LGBTQ+ rights but fall short in other areas.<\/p>\n

Reed insisted that consumers who really care about a cause can do the work: \u201cThat data is actually out there. The Google machine can help.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cPurpose-driven marketing\u201d is here to stay, Reed added, and it will be up to consumers to figure out whether they think companies are being genuine. Consumers may want to ask more questions and treat this \u201cas a true scholarly exercise,\u201d he said. \u201cYou might want to do more than just look at a list or index.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerned consumers also can turn to groups, websites and apps that track or rank companies\u2019 support for LGBTQ+ people, such as the Real Allies Database, a website operated by the watchdog group Accountable for Equality Action, or the prominent advocacy groups GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). <\/p>\n

There are complicating factors, though. As the Popular Information newsletter recently pointed out, HRC\u2019s Corporate Equality Index excludes political donations, so some companies the group awarded high ratings to for their LGBTQ+ support actually gave money to politicians backing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.<\/p>\n

In a recent blog post, the Human Rights Campaign said it was tracking legislation that bans gender-affirming care, anti-transgender bathroom bills, anti-LGBTQ+ curriculum-censorship bills and drag-performance bans. <\/p>\n

HRC also said it had suspended Anheuser-Busch\u2019s
\n BUD,
\n -1.16%<\/bg-quote>
\n score on its equality index because of the company\u2019s noncommittal response to the transphobic backlash against social-media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who was featured in a Bud Light promotion. And the group criticized Target
\n TGT,
\n -0.11%<\/bg-quote>
\n for moving Pride Month merchandise to the back of some stores in Southern states after backlash and what the company said were threats to its workers\u2019 safety. <\/p>\n

See also:<\/strong> Human Rights Campaign declares state-of-emergency warning for LGBTQ+ Americans<\/p>\n

Houdart is critical of the big LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, saying they have been influenced by corporate donations throughout the years: \u201cIf we really want to take a stance, we could just start by not inviting [these companies], not giving them a floor at events or giving them high scores on indexes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Human Rights Campaign did not return MarketWatch\u2019s requests for additional comment.<\/p>\n

A GLAAD spokesperson told MarketWatch that \u201cif you research a bit about GLAAD\u2019s work to hold corporates accountable on LGBTQ issues, the truth is obvious and the list of times we have publicly or privately advocated for LGBTQ inclusion or reversal of an anti-LGBTQ action is long.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said that includes calling out corporations that donate to the group, such as through GLAAD\u2019s reports on film studios and their political donations, as well as creating a recently released index on social-media safety.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s hard for me to be perfect\u2019<\/h2>\n

Another issue is that some companies might support LGBTQ+ rights but have a poor record on other important issues consumers care about. \u201cFast fashion has been pro-LGBTQ, though it\u2019s terrible on the environment,\u201d Houdart said, adding that other companies and industries fall into the same category.<\/p>\n

Frank Russell, a college professor who lives in Fullerton, Calif., with his husband, feels the same way. He said he tries to consume and invest \u201cin a way that I can feel good about, [but] I also find it\u2019s hard for me to be perfect about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough my identity as a gay man is important to me \u2026 as much as possible, I don\u2019t want to spend or invest money in companies that are making climate change worse,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n

Because he doesn\u2019t have time to track individual stocks to invest in, Russell said, he relies on index investing, and thinks \u201cthe Nasdaq 100
\n NDX,
\n -0.67%<\/bg-quote>
\n is general in better in terms of being consistent with my values vs. the S&P 500
\n SPX,
\n -0.57%<\/bg-quote>.<\/span>
\n \u201d<\/p>\n

As an example, he compared tech giant Apple
\n AAPL,
\n +0.09%<\/bg-quote>,<\/span>
\n which happens to be in both indexes, with oil giant Exxon Mobil
\n XOM,
\n -1.17%<\/bg-quote>,<\/span>
\n which is in the S&P 500 index. \u201cApple is not perfect, but it behaves in a way that\u2019s more consistent with my values than Exxon Mobil does,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n

Read next:<\/strong> Starbucks workers at more than 150 stores plan to strike as tensions build over Pride decorations<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With heightened anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in the U.S. and hundreds of bills that would negatively affect LGBTQ+ rights introduced in the 2023 legislative session, some consumers who want to align their spending and investing with their values might find it trickier than ever to do so. That\u2019s because many companies that have declared support for LGBTQ+ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-26599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\nWhich companies are true LGBTQ+ allies? 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