Here’s the first week of February’s LGBT Business Report: a weekly round-up of news of consequence to the LGBT business professional community. This week in:
- NEWS: Italian LGBT media awards / Rainbow shoelaces for Manchester United soccer team / Indiana fails;
- FEATURED CONTENT: a Harvard Business Review piece on the power of corporate LGBT inclusivity;
- EVENTS: major events of interest to LGBT professionals to watch for, including a truly global event put on by The Economist.
NEWS
Rainbow Shoelace Redux
Accenture, Aon, Credit Suisse, Barclays, EY, Adidas Group, and other major businesses have teamed up with Manchester United and other major sports franchises in London to sponsor the first “Team Pride: Levelling the LGBT Playing Field” in sports. (Additional info in the events section below.) The conference helps boost UK LGBT advocacy organization Stonewall’s rainbow laces campaign, which got a tepid response when launched a few years ago. Designed to get major sports team members to wear multicolored laces on the field to promote LGBT awareness, many players got skittish, which is exactly why the campaign is important. And exactly why this Team Pride conference on February 11 — with significant corporate backing — could make a difference.
Italy’s LGBT Media Boost
On January 20th, the Municipalities of Milan and Rome and the European Commission announced the launch of The Diversity Media Awards (DMA) “to honor and award the best LGBT representation in media.” Check out the beautiful and moving promo video from the country that brought the world Fellini at www.diversitylab.it/sito/. Scheduled for May, and modeled after the U.S. GLAAD awards, the DMA awards promise, according to the organizers, to be inclusive of “class, style and elegance.” We expect no less from Rome. Viva l’Italia!
Indiana Fails
If Europe seems to be moving forward on LGBT issues, Indiana, well, not so much. After last year’s passing of the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which drew widespread condemnation to the Hoosier state, attempts to fix the law were killed by state Senate Republican leaders before it could even be debated by the legislature. Keep trying.
FEATURED CONTENT
Harvard Business Review’s Take on Corporate LGBT Inclusion
This week we’re featuring special content from the Harvard Business Review, a post titled “LGBT-Inclusive Companies Are Better at 3 Big Things.” Noting that “For the first time in the history of Davos, LGBT rights made the official agenda at the World Economic Forum,” Sylvia Ann Hewlett, CEO of the Center for Talent Innovation and Hewlett Consulting and Kenji Yoshino, Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU, came up with a three great reasons for corporations to push LGBT inclusion. Spoiler alert! They are: (1) “LGBT-inclusive companies attract and retain top talent.” (2) “LGBT-inclusive companies win the business and loyalty of discerning consumers.” And (3) “LGBT-inclusive companies harness the insight of LGBT employees to drive market innovation.” For the full, fascinating and compelling story with lots of evidence-based numbers for backup, visit HBR.org.
February 11 — Team Pride: Levelling the LGBT Playing Field. Event to help promote inclusion in major sports. More at: starcite.smarteventscloud.com/rsvp/invitation/invitation.asp?id=/m1312d79-4NFHFWOP7SKXD&EPRegistrationForGuest=True?utm_source=social&utm_medium=linkedin&utm_campaign=theboost
February 17 and on — LGBT Business Builder. LGBT Business Builder sessions are rolling out across the country sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The first ones are scheduled for Feb 17 and 24, and March 9 in Boston, Houston, and Portland, respectively. More at: www.nglcc.org.
March 3 — Economist Pride and Prejudice 2016. A 24-hour LGBT business event held in London, Hong Kong and New York City. More info at prideandprejudice.economist.com.
March 4 — The National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) 4th Annual LGBT Summit of the Americas. This year’s event is to be held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Promoting LGBT business int he Americas. If you can get to the Dominican Republic, the event is free. More info at: www.nglcc.org/events/4th-nglcc-lgbt-summit-americas
May 16-20 — LGBT Week NYC: Marketing, Advertising & Technology. More info: www.lgbtweek.nyc.
And I think that’s as inclusive as I can be for the LGBT Business.Report for this week.
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