Nine of the biggest, most LGBTQ-supportive corporations in America gave about $1 million or more each to anti-gay politicians in the last election cycle. The companies include familiar names like AT&T, UPS, Comcast, Home Depot and General Electric. All told, their donations totaled almost $15 million. The team at Progressive Shopper created a dataset based on two annual lists compiled by Human Rights Campaign: one called the Corporate Equality Index, the other the HRC Congressional Scorecard. The index ranks more than 1,000 companies according to their policies for LGBTQ employees and their public advocacy for LGBTQ causes. And in the scorecard, HRC gave 228 members of Congress the worst possible score: a zero. All of them voted to confirm anti-gay members of the Trump cabinet, voted to deny healthcare to transgender troops, and wouldn't sponsor or co-sponsor any legislation in support of LGBTQ rights.Īfter comparing those two lists, Progressive Shopper identified those nine corporations, all of which received a perfect score on the 2018 equality index from HRC. Every one of those nine also donated about $1 million or more in the last election cycle to politicians who received a zero on the HRC Congressional scorecard, which the team then brought to the attention of Popular Information.
The donations were all from corporate political action committees to politicians or their leadership PACs. It should be noted that after receiving a perfect score in 2018, GE, Comcast, Home Depot, FedEx and Verizon scored only a 90 on the 2019 CEI.
Popular Information reached out to HRC for comment. "While the CEI captures LGBTQ-inclusive policies, practices and benefits, there isn't a one-size fits all way to consistently score companies on the scope and impact of their political donations," said HRC national press secretary Sarah McBride in a statement to Popular Information. The Corporate Equality Index is a critical tool for advancing LGBTQ equality in the workplace, but it is not the only tool." " It is important for reporting like this that asks tough questions of corporations and brings these donations into the public discussion. Those nine corporations with perfect index scores which made donations to anti-gay politicians f rom 2017 to 2018, are, in order from most to least:ġ. Comcast donated $2,116,500 to 154 anti-gay politicians.Ĥ. Home Depot donated $1,825,500 to 111 anti-gay politicians.ĥ.
General Electric donated $1,380,500 to 97 anti-gay politicians.Ħ. FedEx donated $1,261,500 to 75 anti-gay politicians.ħ. UBS donated $1,094,750 to 72 anti-gay politicians.Ĩ. Verizon donated $1,022,803 to 74 anti-gay politicians.ĩ. Pfizer donated $959,263 to 52 anti-gay politicians. The grand total from all these donations, a ccording to Popular Information and Progressive Shopper, was $14,891,413. Of the companies mentioned here, all nine were contacted for comment and three have responded. This story will be updated as additional comments are received. "FedEx has a long history of participating in the political process, and we support candidates on both sides of the aisle," said a spokesperson in an emailed statement. We strive to provide an inclusive workplace in which all team members feel safe and respected." "FedEx is as diverse as the world we serve. "Pfizer has a long and proud history of caring, supporting, and advocating for the LGBTQ community, which includes signing on to the Equality Act, filing a Supreme Court amicus brief in support of same-sex marriage, and maintaining a perfect HRC score since 2004," said a spokesperson for Pfizer, in an email.