American Airlines will receive this year’s Elizabeth Birch Equality Award, co-chairs of the 2010 Black Tie Dinner announced recently. Airline executives will attend the 29th annual Black Tie Dinner to receive the prestigious award. The Dinner will be held on Saturday evening, November 6, 2009, at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel. Past recipients of the Birch award include Showtime Networks/Robert Greenblatt, Alan Cumming, Sharon Stone, Bishop V. Gene Robinson and, last year, Judy Shepard.
“We are deeply honored to accept this special award and look forward to this year’s Black Tie Dinner so much,” said Denise Lynn, American Airlines’ Vice President of Diversity & Leadership Strategies. “There is no greater embrace than that given by your hometown, and receiving the Elizabeth Birch Award will only magnify the pride we take in being part of the inclusive and welcoming fabric that makes up the people of Dallas and Fort Worth and the lives of all our employees.”
American Airlines boasts a long list of industry firsts: the first major airline to implement same-sex domestic partner benefits; the first to implement both sexual orientation and gender identity in its workplace nondiscrimination policies; the first to endorse the Employment Non-Discrimination Act; the first to have a company-recognized LGBT employee resource group, GLEAM; and the first to launch a dedicated LGBT-specific website, www.aa.com/rainbow.
