The UPS Foundation recently decided to join a growing
number of corporate leaders in providing financial support to those
organizations that align with the company’s non-discrimination policy.
The UPS Foundation had reviewed the policy for several months and last
week posted the following on its site:
The UPS Foundation seeks to support organizations that are in
alignment with our focus areas, guidelines, and non-discrimination
policy, says GLAAD. UPS and The UPS Foundation do not discriminate against any
person or organization with regard to categories protected by applicable
law, as well as other categories protected by UPS and The UPS
Foundation in our own policies. These include, but are not limited to
race, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender
identity, veteran or military status, pregnancy, age and religion.
UPS
confirmed to GLAAD that under these guidelines, which UPS said have
been in development for several months, organizations that are unable to
attest to having a policy or practices that align with the Foundation’s
non-discrimination policy will no longer be considered eligible for
funding. UPS has consistently received high marks on the Human Rights
Campaign's (HRC) Corporate Equality Index, an annual survey that rates
U.S. corporations on their non-discrimination policies and practices
toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees and
consumers.
“More and more corporate leaders are enacting strong
non-discrimination policies for practices including grant funding and
hiring. Equality is not only good for business, but supported by a vast
majority of Americans,” said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick.
Read more after the jump.
Prior
to The UPS Foundation’s non-discrimination language, UPS gave $167,000
to various Boy Scouts of America (BSA) entities in 2010 and said there
would not be a change to grant-making at that time according to an American Independent report in September 2012. The BSA currently ban gay young people and adults from serving as scouts and as scout leaders.
In
September 2012, the Intel Foundation said that the company could no
longer fund organizations like the Boy Scouts of America, so long as the
Scouts stand by their ban. BSA troops and councils around the country
that have stated they will not adhere to the ban may still receive
support from the Intel Foundation.
The CEOs of two major companies - AT&T and Ernst & Young -
called for an end to the Boy Scouts’ anti-gay policies earlier this
year. AT&T’s CEO, Randall Stephenson, and Ernst & Young’s CEO,
James Turley, both sit on the national board of the Boy Scouts of
America.
GLAAD, along with Scouts for Equality, is contacting corporate
sponsors of the Boy Scouts of America to inform of them of the BSA’s ban
on gay scouts and scout leaders. More than 80,000 people signed a Change.org petition
started by Co-Founder of Scouts for Equality, Zach Wahls, and supported
by GLAAD, which called on The UPS Foundation to end funding from the
national BSA.
“The time is now for the BSA to end this outdated
and unpopular ban before other corporate funders pull dollars and
scouting families drop their support,” said Graddick. “All of the great
work that the BSA does to help young people will continue to be
overshadowed by their blatant discrimination until they join other
inclusive organizations like the Girl Scouts of the USA and the 4-H
Club.”
GLAAD first started calls for the Boy Scouts of America to
end their ban on gay scouts and scout leaders in April 2012 after
Jennifer Tyrrell, a mom and den leader from Ohio was removed from her
7-year-old’s Cub Scout Pack for being gay. Tyrrell’s Change.org petition has attracted more than 330,000 signatures in support of ending the Boy Scouts’ ban on gay Scouts and leaders.
GLAAD
and Scouts for Equality have also called attention to the Americans who
are continuing to be harmed by the anti-gay policy, including Kentucky dad Greg Bourke who was ousted from his son’s troop this summer and launched a Change.org campaign
to be reinstated as well as 18 year-old Ryan Andresen whose mother
started a Change.org petition which is at over 420,000 signatures after
he was denied an the rank of Eagle Scout because he is gay.
Earlier this year President Obama, who serves as honorary president of
the Boy Scouts of America, publicly opposed the Boy Scouts of America’s
anti-gay policy.