In the report, the orgainsation noted that companies’ will experience increased profits and productivity states where LGBTI-inclusivity is supported.
It adds that states where LGBTI communities are marginalized can suffer economically as a result.
The survey measured all 50 states on factors such as economic, legislative, culture and wellbeing. They also measured the states on hate crime protection, work safety, and the attitudes of political leaders.
‘Societal marginalization of LGBT+ people has real and serious economic costs’
After Massachusetts, California came in at second place. They were followed by Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Oregon, with Hawai and New York tied at seventh place.
The bottom states were Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, South Dakota, South Carolina, and Mississippi.
‘Societal marginalization of LGBT+ people – which can often be subtle and hard to measure – has real and serious economic costs,’ Out Leadership said in their report.
‘Major legislative efforts to extend further legal discrimination, such the Religious Freedom Restoration (RFRA) law Mike Pence signed in Indiana in 2016, and North Carolina’s passage of the HB2 “Bathroom Bill,” damaged those states’ reputations for being business-friendly and harmed tourism, resulting in significant economic losses.
‘But discrimination doesn’t need to be headline news to be harmful, or to create real economic hardship for LGBT+ people.’
In contrast, the reverse was found in LGBTI-friendly states.
‘Research demonstrates that companies where LGBT+ people are supported enjoy increased profitability and stock prices as well as increased employee productivity,’ the report added.
‘Our index suggests that a similar relationship exists on a state policy level, and that states that aim to make LGBT+ people more welcome and included legally and culturally will experience significant rewards for doing so, particularly in terms of residents’ well-being and productivity.’
Massachusetts, the top-ranked state
Massachusetts has made numerous headlines regarding the state’s LGBTI inclusivity.
A transgender man has received an enormous bill of $93,000 for eight nights spent in a medical centre after a suicide attempt.
Oliver Jordan—who is from Tulsa, Oklahoma—posted a photo of the bill on Twitter,which has since gone viral, amassing more than 30,000 likes and retweets.
He captioned the photo: “This is how expensive it is to attempt suicide in the US.”
Oliver Jordan said the bill left him feeling ‘hopeless’
Jordan told theNew York Post that he is lucky to have health insurance—which means that the amount he has to pay is $2,850 instead of $93,000.
Despite this, he said that he will still be in debt for several years after the event and said the cost had left him feeling “hopeless.”
He said that the cost would be “utterly catastrophic” for somebody who didn’t have health insurance.
“I recently had a change in insurance and it no longer covers my top surgery at all, so I’m needing to raise the full amount.”
– Transgender man Oliver Jordan
The bill shows that he was charged over $10,000 to stay in a room in the medical centre for eight nights.
Meanwhile, another cost—simply put as “Pharmacy-General”—came to more than $6,000 for eight days.
Transgender man Oliver Jordan is also fundraising for top surgery
Jordan is also fundraising at the moment so he can have top surgery. He has raised $1,311 of $6,000 so far.
Writing on his GoFundMe page, Jordan said: “I’ve been out as transgender for over four years now, I’ve been on testosterone (hormone replacement therapy) for nearly three years, and I’m hoping to have top surgery as soon as possible.
“The largest point of my dysphoria is my chest. Binding helps, but it’s caused me to break ribs and miss out on so many things I enjoy due to the pain, the decreased lung capacity, and shortness of breath.
“To be able to not wear a binder would be my greatest dream. I recently had a change in insurance and it no longer covers my top surgery at all, so I’m needing to raise the full amount. Any donations are highly appreciated, anything will help!”
The US spends more on health care per capita than most other developed countries, with the main reason for the prohibitively high cost being higher prices, according to a recent study from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The study’s lead author, Gerard F. Anderson said: “In spite of all the efforts in the US to control health spending over the past 25 years, the story remains the same—the US remains the most expensive because of the prices the US pays for health services.”
Many schools and universities have banned Chick-fil-A due to their LGBT+ stance. We’ve put together a timeline of the institutions that have removed or barred the fast-food chain from their campuses.
The restaurant company, which has approximately 2,000 branches in the US, often makes headlines due to its anti-LGBT point of view and support of “biblical families.”
Since their stance on same-sex marriage became known in 2012, universities and schools have ensured that they made their disapproval known by boycotting the company.
2012: Elon University votes Chick-fil-A off campus
Elon University was among the first to ban the restaurant chain. In October 2012, the fast-food chain was voted off the campus in North Carolina because of the company’s public opposition to equal marriage.
2013: Emory University removes branch from college site
In March 2013, Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia, announced its decision to remove its Chick-fil-A branch from campus due to lack of student support.
The institute’s newspaper, the Emory Wheel, tweeted the news that Chick-fil-A was to be removed from the food hall’s new layout, which was being designed.
2014: High school bans restaurant from fundraiser
In 2014, a Californian high school banned Chick-fil-A from being served at their fundraiser. Ventura High School’s Principal Val Wyatt made the ban over fears that serving the anti-LGBT company’s chicken could alienate LGBT+ students and parents.
2015: University in Maryland blocks Chick-fil-A
John’s Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, voted against allowing a Chick-fil-A on campus in 2015. Their Student Government Association (SGA) chose not to “support the proposal of a Chick-fil-A, in a current or future sense, particularly on any location that is central to student life.”
They explained that “Chick-Fil-A’s former CEO Dan Cathy has publicly stated divisive statements against the LGBTQ+ community,” and that Cathy was “disappointed after the supreme court’s decision on same sex marriage.”
2017: Duquesne University blocks chain over ‘questionable history’ on human rights
In 2017, students protested against allowing a Chick-fil-A on campus at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh after a deal had closed. Student senator Niko Martini explained: “Chick-fil-A has a questionable history on civil rights and human rights.”
2018: Rider University bans Chick-fil-A and dean resigns
In late 2018, Rider University, in New Jersey, joined the institutions to ban having a Chick-fil-A on campus due to its LGBT+ background and track record.
The university’s dean, Cynthia Newman, resigned over the student vote to exclude the chain.
Newman said: “I felt like I had been punched in the stomach when I read that statement [about the ban] because I am a very committed Christian.”
A new report published today (7 May) exposes the ‘widespread failure’ of police forces across the US to protect and serve trans people.
Policies are failing to modernize in what researchers describe as ‘systemic neglect.’
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) worked with dozens of local and state groups to analyze how 25 of the nation’s largest police departments treat trans people. For the most part, the results are in the red.W
Moreover, around 58% of trans people in the US have encountered law enforcement in the past year, and of those, they experienced harassment, abuse, or other mistreatment.View image on Twitter
NEW: Violence facing trans people intensifies when police depts fail to protect & serve us. #WhoProtectsUs#FailingToProtect@TransEquality audited the 25 largest US police depts to learn: they can improve & how they’re falling short.
‘As we make groundbreaking advancements towards transgender equality, many members of our communities continue to be affected by disproportionate contact with, and often by bias and abuse within, policing and the criminal justice system,’ the report’s introduction read.
NCTE scrutinize 25 police departments – from Atlanta to Boston, Chicago to San Francisco – across 17 criteria.
Several police departments across the US failed to protect trans citizens in an array of areas | Picture: NCTE
They range from bathroom access to respectful communication as well as search procedures to how trans-inclusive training is.
Furthermore, over a two-year period, NCTE researchers evaluated publicly available polices and practises.
What did they find?
Among the researchers’ key findings:
No department explicitly requires regular training on trans interaction policies for all members across rank.
None of the departments required officers respectfully record the name currently being used by the individual.
No department explicitly provides for trans individuals to be transported along with individuals of the same gender identity.
Out of the sixteen departments with holding facilities, only four adequately address access to hormone medications.
Out of the sixteen departments with holding facilities, 10 failed to provide specific guidance on housing placement for transgender individuals.
A majority of departments (16 of 25) fail to provide search procedures for transgender individuals.
However, alongside the report, the NCTE also published a seperate model policy document. In it, they propose an array of policy changes to help guide reforms.
But even if police implemented all proposed policy, the report acknowledged ‘it would not be enough to ensure that all transgender people are treated fairer by police.’
They added: ‘It is clear that the issues facing transgender people can’t be separated from broader issues of police reform and oversight.’
An all-male, historically black college in Atlanta, Georgia, will start admitting some transgender students in 2020.
Morehouse College announced that it will begin to accept transgender men, but not trans women.
“In a rapidly changing world that includes a better understanding of gender identity, we’re proud to expand our admissions policy to consider trans men who want to be part of an institution that has produced some of the greatest leaders in social justice, politics, business, and the arts for more than 150 years,” Terrance Dixon, Morehouse’s vice president for enrollment management, said in a statement.
“The ratification of this policy affirms the college’s commitment to develop men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership and service.”
Students who identify as non-binary or gender non-conforming are also eligible for admission.
However, the college has outlined that all students are expected to self-identify as men throughout their education at Morehouse.
The college added that if a student transitions from a man to a woman, they will no longer be eligible to matriculate.
“Exemptions from this rule may be granted by a three-person committee appointed by the President after a written appeal is submitted by the student,” according to the college.
“In the event that the impacted student disagrees with the decision of the committee, the student may make a final appeal to the President of Morehouse.”
The Gender Identity Policy reads: “If a student decides that, as a men’s college, Morehouse no longer offers the appropriate educational environment for the student, or if an enrolled student begins to self-identify as a woman, we will offer guidance and resources to assist in making choices that are best for that student.”
Despite the new policy, Morehouse said it would continue to use the masculine pronouns and other gendered language, including the language of brotherhood, that university officials felt reflected its mission.
The new policy reads: “Where there is a conflict between the student’s self-identified gender and the sex that appears on documentation such as an academic transcript or documents provided as part of the financial aid process, the student is strongly encouraged to contact the Office of Admissions for a discussion around the desire to attend a single gender men’s college and how they self-identify in terms of gender.”
The policy was developed after 15 months of community engagement with faculty, staff, students and alumni.
Morehouse President David Thomas created a task force that led the community engagement meetings.
Some have criticised Morehouse’s exclusion of trans women, however.
Speaking to CNN, Morehouse graduate Titi Naomi Tukes said: “I unequivocally disapprove of it because it is exclusionary of trans women or gender non-conforming and non-binary students.”
Tukes said when students go to college they usually don’t know themselves and can often question their religion, sexuality or gender during their education.
Three new words related to trans issues are being added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
The dictionary’s website said that 640 words are being added this month, including “gender nonconforming,” “top surgery” and “bottom surgery.”
Gender nonconforming is defined as “exhibiting behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits that do not correspond with the traits typically associated with one’s sex: having a gender expression that does not conform to gender norms.”
The entry says that the first known use of the term was in 1991 and quotes a 2015 Boston Globe article to show the word in context.
The three new trans words in the dictionary
Gender nonconforming: exhibiting behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits that do not correspond with the traits typically associated with one’s sex.
Bottom surgery: a type of gender confirmation surgery in which a person’s genitalia are altered to match their gender identity.
The article explains top surgery is defined as “a type of gender confirmation surgery in which a person’s breasts are removed or augmented to match their gender identity” and bottom surgery is “a type of gender confirmation surgery in which a person’s genitalia are altered to match their gender identity.”
According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of “top surgery,” was in 1992, while “bottom surgery” first appeared in 1994.
Merriam-Webster frequently highlights words involving the LGBT+ community.
In 2018 the word pansexual made it onto Merriam-Webster’s list of words of the year.
The US dictionary company explained that the sexual orientation‘s rise to prominence, which sees it ranked third after “Justice” and “Nationalism”—both of which relate heavily to Donald Trump—is largely down to performer Janelle Monáe.
A new study revealed transgender, non-binary and genderqueer students are at higher risk for sexual assault if they attend a school with bathroom restrictions.
Researchers looked at data from the LGBTQ Teen Study, an anonymous web survey of US kids ages 13 to 17. The survey contains information from 3,673 teenagers in the country. They published their findings in the journal Pediatrics on Monday (6 May).
When looking at the respondents as a whole, 1 in 4 (25.9%) described themselves as victims of sexual assault in the last 12 months.
For non-cisgender LGBTI students, this rate was significantly higher. Nearly 4 in 10 (36%) of these students who attend schools with bathroom restrictions said they were sexually assaulted.
Researchers defined bathroom restrictions as an environment where teachers or staff have informed students they cannot use the restroom or locker room that corresponds with their gender identity.
When politics turn violent
The debate about bathroom access became a nationwide conversation in 2016.
That year, the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education released guidance together that institutions must treat a person’s gender identity as their sex, thereby protecting it under Title IX.
That same year, the Supreme Court decided to hear the case of Gavin Grimm, a transgender student suing a Virginia school district after his school refused to let him use the bathroom corresponding to his gender identity.
Unfortunately, while the Obama administration officially supported Grimm, the Trump administration revoked support for transgender students. The Supreme Court then reversed its decision to hear the case.
North Carolina then continued the debate in a big way when they passed House Bill 2 in 2016. Though it was then replaced with another restrictive bill in 2017, a federal judge last year ruled this second law does not prohibit trans people from using the restroom corresponding to their gender identity.
An ‘indicator’ of dangerous environments
‘Unfortunately, kids’ access to restrooms and locker rooms has become very politicized in some communities,’ said Gabriel Murchison.
Murchison is a doctoral candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and lead author of this new study.
The study, Murchison clarified, does not state the restrictive bathroom rules are the reason for the increase in sexual assault cases, but that there is a connection.
‘They are certainly a strong indicator of environments where kids are at risk,’ he said.
He also explained that the discussion becoming a nationwide debate has put non-cisgender students in the spotlight. This could also partly explain the increase.
On the count of three, about 50 gay couples kissed their partners in the public square of a small town in the Ozark Mountains.
Jay Wilks, the event’s organizer, told the crowd to do it over.
“With more passion this time!” he shouted into the microphone.
Wilks counted down again, and queer and trans people embraced their partners, now with the gusto he demanded. The couples, decked out in so much pride gear that despite the day’s clear weather rainbows abounded, held each other, laughed and, most important, kissed.
It was PDA in the Park, the signature event of early April’s Spring Diversity Weekend in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Eureka is a rural, hilly town of about 2,000 people where locals say over 30 percent of residents are LGBTQ and playfully remark their town has “no straight streets.”
Amber Clark, 36, who has rainbow-dyed hair, drove in for the weekend from Carthage, Missouri, a city of less than 15,000 where you’d be hard-pressed to find 100 queer people making out in the small downtown. She came with what she characterized as “a group of loud, out, queer women.”
“We’re here to be normal for a weekend,” she said, “and to kiss in the park.”
About 2.9 to 3.8 million LGBTQ people live in rural America, and they are increasingly finding that they don’t need to travel to a big city or the coasts to find a place to be themselves and unwind on vacation.
Public imagination renders LGBTQ people as city dwellers, and the dominant narrative says anyone queer or trans living in rural America yearns for escape. There is some truth in that, and for good reason — a recent survey found that Arkansas residents were the least supportive of measures to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination, compared to residents of other states. But in Eureka Springs, Wilks, who runs Out in Eureka, an LGBTQ event and information organization, is working to create what he sees as an oasis: a space for LGBTQ people to explore a quaint Southern town while being welcomed exactly as they are.
Other cities and towns in red states have also begun courting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer tourists, as a way of showing their openness and because there’s money to be made. (It’s difficult to determine the economic impact of LGBTQ travelers, but by using population data, the United Nations World Tourism Association estimates they generate more than $50 billion in annual revenue in the U.S.)
Salt Lake City is so dedicated to making sure people know it’s LGBTQ-friendly that it has an explainer on its tourism website that begins, “Yes, Salt Lake IS a great place for the LGBTQ Community.”
Oklahoma City tries to entice LGBTQ tourists with its annual Memorial Day gay rodeo and its small but thriving gayborhood.
Forty miles southwest of Eureka Springs, Fayetteville is on a similar mission, trying to appeal to LGBTQ people in Arkansas and neighboring states, for whom going on vacation to a major city is cost prohibitive — or not at all desirable. People who are rural and queer, or Southern and queer, often feel like they need to give up one of those identities, but city leaders in Fayetteville and Eureka Springs are marketing their towns as a place where visitors and residents alike can have it all, even if the state’s politics are not as progressive.
“Our focus is not to become a San Francisco or a Fort Lauderdale,” Wilks, 51, a former flight attendant, said. “Fire Island is fun,” he added of the gay destination east of New York City, but Wilks wants to remain “true to who Eureka is” — a small town that’s wooded, Southern and super gay.
‘DO THEY REALLY WANT US HERE?’
Fayetteville recently became the first city in Arkansas to join the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, which provides free resources, travel suggestions and safety tips to LGBTQ travelers. The city of about 85,000 has always had a reputation for being progressive, especially within its own state, partly because it’s a college town that votes blue. Since 2014, Fayetteville fought to get an LGBTQ nondiscrimination law on its books, but the state supreme court struck it down in January.
That put Molly Rawn, executive director of Experience Fayetteville, the city’s tourism office, in a bit of a bind. How do you convince LGBTQ people to come to your city, which prides itself on inclusivity, when the state sends a different message?
One way Rawn does it is by being clear in her message to LGBTQ folks: “We want you here,” she said.
Experience Fayetteville takes out ads in gay newspapers in nearby cities and neighboring states touting its attractions and making sure queer and trans folks know they can visit without worry.
“In my experience, you only have to get them here once, and then they come back,” Rawn said. A lifelong Arkansan, she knows she’s fighting an uphill battle — while she loves the state, she acknowledges that it isn’t always a great place to be LGBTQ, with a lack of workplace discrimination protections and scant health care for trans people.
Still, Fayetteville Pride, the biggest gay event of the year, has flourished, drawing visitors from all over the region. The first parade in 2005 drew about 200 attendees; last year, it had over 15,000.
John Tanzella, president and CEO of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, was thrilled when Fayetteville wanted to be promoted by his organization. But some travel writers and tourists wrote to his organization and asked: “Is it really somewhere welcoming?” and “Do they really want us there?”
His answer: “Yes.”
Tanzella said that in recent years, gay tourism has “evolved from a one-size-fits model to all these different niches.” No longer just cruises and bed-and-breakfasts in Provincetown, Massachusetts, LGBTQ tourism has grown as diverse as the community itself. One of those niches is LGBTQ people who live in the South or the Midwest, and aren’t itching for big city life — they just want a place to be themselves.
Still, the impulse to court LGBTQ tourists doesn’t sit well with everyone.
Brody Parrish, a queer, trans and nonbinary Fayetteville resident, said the effort to draw LGBTQ visitors feels like a “misappropriation of resources.”
Parrish believes Northwest Arkansas should focus on allocating resources to its LGBTQ residents by increasing health care access and opening spaces like community drop-in centers were queer and trans people can congregate. Progressive cities like Fayetteville should “really be putting in the work to make it a safe space for everyone to exist here.”
“I would love to meet random LGBT people that come to this area to visit,” Parrish added, but at the same time, “What are you doing to support those people that are in your town, versus trying to bring people from other areas?”
‘IT FEELS LIKE HOME’
Melodye Purdy moved to Eureka Springs about 15 years ago from Memphis, Tennessee. She and her partner chose Eureka mostly because “there is no other place on Earth like it.”
“Being a woman and being a lesbian, it was very important to find a sense of security and safety,” Purdy, 53, said. Some “gay-friendly” places she and her partner considered seemed to cater only to men, while others, like Key West and Provincetown, felt too far from her home in the South. “I did think that I had to leave the South to be a lesbian,” she said. But in Eureka, among the curvy streets, she found home. “I was wrong.”
Eureka’s reputation as an LGBTQ haven isn’t new — at least for Northwest Arkansas residents. It started as a hippie town in the ’70s, and slowly, queer and trans people began moving there. The picturesque town features old saloons with rainbow flags, a haunted hotel, and dozens of other gay-owned shops, restaurants and businesses. Every bar in Eureka, residents like to say, is a gay bar.
Ashley Buckmaster, 36, makes the two-hour drive from her home in Carthage, Missouri, to Eureka Springs a couple times a year. “It’s not scary to go places here,” Buckmaster, who is queer, said at Diversity Weekend. On her visits, she’s met and made lifelong friends. “It feels like home.”
That is exactly why Wilks organizes Diversity Weekend.
“With the cost of travelling to some of the major cities, it’s not something that everyone can just up and do,” he said. “Gay affluence” is a largely a myth, and transgender people often face structural hurdles to finding work and housing. Eureka, Wilks and others hope, can provide an affordable and safe refuge.
‘WE’RE MOVING’
Preparing for his first trip to Eureka Springs a year ago, Ethan Avanzino, 30, said he took out a lot of cash.
“My initial thought of Arkansas was like: ‘Do they take credit cards? Can we barter?’” Avanzino, a gay trans man who grew up on the West Coast and currently lives in Dallas, said. He’s been back four times since then, making the six-to-seven-hour drive with his husband.
On Diversity Weekend this April, he returned to enjoy the festivities and to lead a “Transgender 101” workshop for visitors and community members.
In the town’s public library, people asked Avanzino about they/them pronouns, what it means to be intersex and how best to support the trans people in their lives. Outside the library window, if you looked east, you could see a 66-foot white statue of Jesus called “Christ of the Ozarks” towering over the hills.
In Dallas, Avanzino is out and does media production for a Fortune 500 company; things are pretty good. But there’s something about Eureka that he feels like he can’t get elsewhere. “The inclusivity in the South is what captured me,” he said. “I like to disconnect and be out in the middle of the wilderness and not have cell reception.”
Transgender adults may be more likely to have unhealthy habits and medical issues that negatively impact their quality of life than people whose gender identity matches what it says on their birth certificates, a U.S. study suggests.
Researchers examined survey data from 3,075 transgender adults as well as 719,567 adults who are cisgender, meaning their gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth.
Compared to cisgender Americans, transgender individuals were more likely to be sedentary, current smokers, and uninsured, researchers report in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Transgender people were also 30 percent more likely to report being in “fair” or “poor” health over the past month than cisgender adults, as well as 66 percent more likely to report experiencing severe mental distress.
“The U.S. has made a lot of progress over the last several years toward acceptance and celebration of natural human diversity in gender identity and expression,” study author Kellan Baker said by email. But between 2014 and 2017 – the period when the survey was done – attitudes shifted and treatment of transgender often got worse, said Baker, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
“This study shows that being a transgender person in the U.S. today – being transgender in a society that you know doesn’t fully accept you – is hard,” Baker added. “It affects your health in negative ways, and that’s why issues such as nondiscrimination protections for transgender people are public health issues.”
An estimated 0.55 percent of the people in the survey identified as transgender, which suggests there may be about 1.27 million transgender adults in the U.S.
Survey participants were asked if they considered themselves transgender and were given four options to categorize their identities: trans male (people who identify as male but were assigned female at birth); trans female (individuals who identify as female but were assigned male at birth); gender non-conforming; or not transgender.
Overall, about 19 percent of transgender respondents were current smokers, compared with roughly 16 percent of cisgender people.
About 35 percent of transgender individuals were inactive, compared with nearly 26 percent of cisgender adults.
And, almost 80 percent of transgender participants had health insurance, compared with 85 percent of other people in the study.
Transgender adults also reported more days in the previous month when they felt physically and mentally unhealthy or felt unable to do all of their usual daily activities.
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how gender identity might directly impact health. Another limitation is that researchers lacked data on how differences within the transgender population such as gender, race and sexual orientation might influence the results.
“I think the take-home message for transgender adults here is clear, which is that transgender adults face additional mental and physical health disparities when compared to cisgender individuals,” said Xiang Cai, a researcher at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City who wasn’t involved in the study.
Cai attributes the higher risks for poor health in trans people to “multiple levels of transgender-specific stigmas.”
“However, I think it is important to note that adults in the transgender community are capable and resilient,” Cai said by email.
The study also didn’t look at whether transgender individuals had gender-affirming surgery or were able to make their outward appearance match their gender identity, Cai said.
“Gender-affirmation treatments may be associated with higher levels of quality of life among those who desire them regardless of age,” Cai noted.
Marriott International, among many big corporations, has gone on record in support of the LGBTQ community. Its CEO, Arne Sorenson, has been one of the most vocal defenders of LGBTQ rights in recent years as corporations have been pulled more squarely into divisive social and legal battles related to LGBTQ discrimination.
But now Marriott is among the corporations facing backlash over an event that will honor Brazil’s new and controversial president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has a history of homophobic comments. He also has made incendiary comments about gender, indigenous groups and torture.
The Marriott Marquis in New York City will be hosting the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce 2019 Person of the Year Award Gala Dinner, honoring Bolsonaro. The event attracted major corporate sponsors, including Delta Air Lines, UnitedHealth Group, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.
Additional sponsors include HSBC, Citigroup, JPMorgan, UBSand Bank of New York Mellon, Santander, BNP Paribas and Forbes’ local licensee Forbes Brasil, whose publisher said it has been a media sponsor of the event for five years and will continue to sponsor it to strengthen ties between Brazil and the U.S.
Bain & Co. pulled out of event sponsorship on Tuesday, as did the Financial Times. Delta told CNBC on Tuesday afternoon that it had pulled out of event sponsorship.
Bolsonaro is reportedly receiving the reward for his prioritizing of Christian values and family. He’s been president of Brazil since January and has been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, homosexuality and abortion. According to the New York Times, which cataloged some of his controversial comments, Bolsonaro said he would “rather have a son who is an addict than a son who is gay” and that he was “proud to be homophobic.”
The event has been a magnet for controversy — the Marriott Marquis is not its first choice of location. It was originally planned to take place at The American Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Ocean Life. Yet pressure from environmental and LGBTQ groups resulted in the museum’s withdrawal.
Marriott’s Sorenson was among the first CEO “activist” leaders when he took on Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in 2014 over legislation perceived as discriminatory. Brewer vetoed the legislation. Sorenson also said at the time of the 2017 battle over the North Carolina bathroom bill perceived as discriminating against LGBTQ rights, “I have personally received hundreds of emails in the last week complaining about the position I have taken with respect to the law in North Carolina. I think the way the law was passed was trying to drive a wedge between people who think and believe different things, as opposed to building a bridge. We end up creating a polarized and exclusionary environment with laws like that,” he told CNBC.
When North Carolina’s bathroom bill became a focal point for corporate social activism, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America spoke out, with its CEO Brian Moynihan telling shareholders, “We’ve been steadfast in our commitment [against] discrimination. We have been a leader in LGBT practices since the [19]90s.”
Delta has spoken out against anti-LGBTQ legislation — often referred to by backers as “religious freedom” bills — in recent years, including bills introduced in its home state of Georgia. The airlines’ decision to end discounts to NRA members, another hot-button social issue for corporations, led the state legislature to even attempt to punish the airline by removing a tax break.
MARRIOTT, CREDIT SUISSE DEFEND DECISION
Marriott is sticking by its decision to host the event for Bolsonaro.
“Diversity and inclusion are part of the fabric of our hotel’s culture and operations. We have welcomed all for over 90 years and focused on putting people first. We are required by law to accept business even if it conflicts with our values,” said a Marriott spokesperson to CNBC. “Acceptance of business does not indicate support, or endorsement of any group or individual.”
Openly gay New York State Senator Brad Hoylman told the Daily News “The only award President Bolsonaro should be receiving is bigot of the year. [It is] incredibly offensive that a business in my Senate district, which has a large LGBTQ population, would host a man who once said he’d rather have a dead son than a gay man.”
“It’s imperative that the companies and organizations associated with this event first understand the egregious anti-LGBTQ record and rhetoric of the Brazilian President and then stand by LGBTQ people in Brazil and everywhere by withdrawing their support,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD to CNBC. “His brand of anti-LGBTQ activism is actively [hurting] LGBTQ Brazilians and companies that host or participate in this celebration of him need to take a stand.”
A spokesperson for Credit Suisse, one of the event sponsors, said the bank, “like other major banks who operate in Brazil, has taken a table at this year’s event, as we have for the past 15 years.”
Representatives for UnitedHealth, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan, UBS, Bank of New York Mellon and Forbes could not provide a comment by press time.