Continuing the effort launched at the beginning of the busy holiday shopping season, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, released a first of its kind, free iPhone application for its “Buying for Equality” guide. This new technology will allow shoppers to access the Buying for Equality guide as they enter a store to see how hundreds of popular American brands are rated based on the businesses’ treatment of their LGBT employees. The iPhone application is available for download at www.hrc.org/iPhone. Both Apple, and the iPhone’s exclusive service provider, AT&T,The Buying for Equality iPhone application puts information directly in the hands of consumers in an easy to read format that divides businesses and their consumer products into red (brands to avoid), yellow (brands that have made some progress) and green (brands to support) categories to help consumers support businesses that support LGBT equality. These color-coded rankings are based on a company’s score on the HRC Corporate Equality Index (www.hrc.org/CEI), a nationally recognized benchmark that scores major American corporations based on their workplace policies and commitment to fairness for their LGBT employees.
“As pro-equality consumers enter the stores in 2010, the new Buying for Equality iPhone application is a revolutionary tool that will help inform purchases and support those businesses who believe in our equality,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “With this application, critical information about workplace equality is now at the fingertips of thousands of LGBT and allied supporters who have hundreds of billions of dollars in buying power. This is another way that we are enabling our community to come together to support those that support us in this new year ahead.”
