When the Human Rights Campaign launched its Corporate Equality Index, an annual rating of employers' LGBTQ-inclusive workplace policies, in 2002, only a scant handful of companies achieved perfect, 100-point scores.
In the most recent report for 2018, the 16th edition of the CEI, 609 businesses scored 100 points for LGBTQ-inclusive policies in four key areas: nondiscrimination policies, equitable benefits for LGBTQ staff and their families, internal education around LGBTQ inclusion, and public commitment to equality for people of different sexual orientations and gender identities.
In a foreword to the report, HRC President Chad Griffin wrote: "On a practical level, this means that millions of LGBTQ workers across America as well as LGBTQ workers employed by multinational companies around the globe are covered under nondiscrimination policies and
able to bring their full selves to work every day."
The HRC Foundation bases the ratings on its annual survey, IRS 990 tax filings (that could reveal contributions to anti-LGBTQ organizations), news accounts of discrimination and corporate responsibility and reports made to the HRC regarding employers' policies and actions.
Seventeen hotel/resort/casino companies were rated this year, including Marriott International and Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, and Las Vegas-based hospitality companies did well.
Caesars Entertainment, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts all received 100 points for their LGBTQ-inclusive workplaces. Tropicana Las Vegas scored an 85, losing points in the benefits section regarding transgender-inclusive health insurance coverage and for some of its public commitment policies.
"We take great pride in being recognized by the Human Rights Campaign," said Maurice Wooden, president of Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, via press release. "Our resorts are truly strengthened by a diverse group of employees whose unique backgrounds are valued at every level of the company, and whose contributions create such memorable experiences for our guests."
To read the complete 2018 CEI report, visit hrc.org/cei.