Diversity is en-grained in everything that I do. I stand for equality and believe in and promote diversity every chance I get. I believe in buying products from companies who support diversity as a whole but specifically those who support LGBT equality.

Because of this I swear by the Human Rights Campaign’s, Buying Guide. The 2012 guide cover says “Buying for Workplace Equality” and that’s just what I do. I consult the guide when deciding who I will purchase from. ie. I love shopping at Target who has an 85 over Wal-mart who has a 60. This is also true for gas stations. Anyone who knows me knows that I will run out of gas before stopping at an Exxon or a Mobil. It’s not something I overtly talk about in my personal life but I realized recently that I am making more of an impact than I realize, specifically with my two kids.

Recently as we were driving past a Mobil station, out of the blue my 3 1/2 year old says “Is that the mean store?” To which my wife was entirely confused by his comment. I whispered “he must have heard me talking about Mobil not being gay-friendly.” He’s a very attentive and observant child. His comment of thinking Mobil is mean led us into a conversation about how the store isn’t mean, they just don’t like all kinds of people. He said “Why don’t they like everybody?” To which we replied something to the effect of “They don’t have to like everyone and treat them fairly but there are a lot of stores that are nice to everyone so we shop there instead. When they start to be nice, then we can go there.” To a 3 year old that’s a reasonable answer and he moved on. Our 5 year old was also paying close attention to the conversation as well. We didn’t put any thoughts or ideas in their head over what makes a store mean, but we put it in simple terms of we only like to shop where people like and accept us. That’s a good lesson to learn at a young age and I’m proud to have had that conversation with them. As they grow they’ll know many more of the details but for now, we’ll keep it simple!

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the Human Rights Campaign Buying Guide, I highly recommend you check it out. http://www.hrc.org/apps/buyersguide/

The HRC Corporate Equality Index is a rating system which rates companies on their diversity practices as they relate to LGBT. They are scored on areas such as how they treat their employees, what types of benefits are offered to same sex couples and what types of policies they have in place for their LGBT employees. One of the ways a corporation shows LGBT inclusion is by using LGBT certified companies like mine, as part of their supplier diversity programs, they seek out LGBT owned businesses just like they would seek out women owned or Hispanic owned businesses (there are many other certifications available). Diversity Works LLC assists corporations in all of these ares but does have a specific focus on how corporations treat their transgender employees. One of our specific focus areas is transgender training and how we can help corporations enact policies that protect these individuals in the workplace. If you work for a corporation who needs assistance on how to do this, please contact us today.