I went to an event hosted by EPN (Equality Professionals Network) and held at a beautiful new auditorium at Qualcomm in which HRC (Human Rights Campaign) you know the people with the equal symbol we all have on our cars, refrigerators, cubicles at work, folders and anywhere we can stick one of those labels on.
The Opening remarks given by Dan Sullivan, EVP, Human resources, Qualcomm should resonate in all industries, basically he said that Qualcomm is a business and they want to be able to pull the best of the best people from all categories and it made no sense to discriminate and lose potential top notch employees because they were LGBT.
Well Ya think! the rest should think the same, but they don’t!
The keynote speaker was Liz Cooper, manager of Corporate Programs, workplace Project for HRC in Washington, D.C.
She gave us a very informative overview of the climate today 2013-2014 in regards to LGBTQ benefits and discrimination protection in the work place.
This index was created in 2002, back then no states had same sex marriage, DOMA was unchallenged, DADT was still in the armed forces, hate crimes based on sexual orientation were not recognized federally.
Now we have same sex marriage in many states, DADT and DOMA were repealed, we have protection at the federal level on hate crimes based on sexual orientation, more and more equal rights every day, but you can still be fired in 29 states based on sexual orientation! And in 33 states based on gender identity!
20% of the wages one gets are in the form insurance and other benefits, which means that LGBT employees are working for 80% of the pay in companies that don’t give them equal benefits.
There were 252 Fortune 500 companies that were scored in 2002 and only 13 with a score of 100%
In 2013 688companies participated, in 2014 there are 735 companies participating. They are starting to see the force and power of the LGBTQ and Allies community which is 790 Billion
dollars and they are making their companies a friendlier place to work in for LGBTQ with full benefits.
Some of the new companies she mentioned were Groupon, Safeway, Wynn Vegas(hotels), GE, Nissan, Smuckers (who I had been boycotting for a while), Jcrew, Regal entertainment, etc. etc.
Anyway, everyone should go to the HRC website before you shop this holiday season.
Spend your hard earned dollars where it counts! Do not give to companies that do not respect equal rights for all!
http://www.hrc.org/apps/buyersguide/index.php#.UpKEv8Ssg68
My 2 cents!
Patti Boman
PFLAG SD
My name is Kayla Weber. I am very interested in coming to this group. A few great individuals and I are trying to open a non profit foster care program. It will all be specialized and we are hoping the LGBT community will come together and help support this great cause. My girlfriend and I feel so strong about helping open a organization that can offer long term care to children who are abused or put in the foster care system just because they are gay or come out to their parents. We are planning on opening individuated long term houses that will each have a different focus such as lgbt,sports,art and multiple other houses. The regular foster care system will put any child in and home anywhere just to get rid of them they put children who got abused or put in the system in judging christian homes who judge them and tell them they are awful and committing a sin then they send them to another home. This is a very cruel and unforgiving world and we want everyone to be created equal and we want to help the children who will be building our future. We would like to come to one of your meetings and get to talk with people who support what we do and other things. When is the next meeting?
Thanks
I am very sorry that I recieved the email re the mitneeg yesterday so late. I wanted to know when will be the next mitneeg so that I can plan to attend and send out the information to others. I am a social worker and someone very interested in recruiting adults who are sympathic to the needs of the LGBQT population.
Hi! Our support meetings are listed on the site and are currently held via zoom. Please feel free to attend which ever is next and we can always direct you to your closest location from there.