The changes that HRC is making in CEI are significant and quite welcomed. The report does have a strong impact on the LGBT policies of major corporations.

One could say, good for HRC for making the changes.

One could also say that the way they rated companies on gender inclusion in the first place was misleading and dishonest, and never should have been done that way in the first place.

It will be very hard for HRC to engender any trust in the T community, and it's going to require deeds done in a timely manner. Those deeds would be unequivocal support for nothing less than fully inclusive hate crimes and ENDA legislation, as well as inclusive repeal of DADT, now. About all we trust HRC to do now is to screw over the T community, and to steal money from local organizations.

It's refreshing to hear Daryl Herrschaft acknowledge that the CEI is only one indicator of a company's attitudes toward the LGBT community.

I've long been critical that the CEI fails to accurately measure the internal climate of companies. Having and enforcing nondiscrimination policies are two different things. Offering diversity training and actively promoting effective bias-reduction programs are two different things.

I wish we had a decent workplace climate survey of the sort conducted by the Great Places to Work Institute as a compliment to the CEI. (GPtWI, by the way, only includes a few basic questions pertaining to LGBT equality.) Such a survey could provide insight into which companies create a welcoming environment for LGBT employees and customers and which only pass unenforced HR policies as a marketing gesture.

I applaud the inclusion of external engagement in LGBT issues. During the last few months, it has been heart-breaking to witness the number of well-ranked (by the CEI) companies with figurehead leaders on the books as donors and supporters of initiatives like Prop 8.

Keeping in mind that the CEI is only one measure of a company, the conscientious shopper or prospective employee can continue their research by searching for news stories about the company's interactions with the LGBT community (especially how the company follows up on claims of discrimination by LGBT people or to boycotts from groups like the AFA). They can look to the public records of donors to anti-equality voter initiatives like Prop 8. I would also recommend checking in with other national groups working with corporate America like the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, Pride at Work, and Out & Equal. Industry-specific comments may also come from professional groups like the National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Association of the National LGBT Bar Association. Finally, if you're in the enviable position of being recruited by more than one company and you care about the environment for LGBT companies, it's completely acceptable to ask for the names and contacts of any openly LGBT people at the corporation from whom you may ask for frank and honest feedback about their experiences.

In the current economic environment, few of us have the luxury of choosing between multiple offers of employment or deciding to shop at a more expensive provider of goods, but for those of us who have the means to make principled decisions about where we work or shop, the CEI is only the starting point for determining which companies are truly the cream of the crop and which are only interested in making empty policy gestures in hopes of attracting the pink dollars.

I still have two questions:

1. Will trans health care responses still be worth only 5 points?

2. Will HRC require proof of an insurance policy that covers transgender related surgeries or will they take the corporation at its word?

Maybe I should cross-post this on the other thread....

Brandi,

I don't often find myself defending the HRC, but have you read Samir's post, or clicked through and read the PDF discussing how they came to these changes? Also, your reference to companies as "cash cows" for the HRC doesn't exactly ring true. While they do get some corporate sponsorship, it's not much. Frankly, big corporations are far more likely to give to non-political (and therefore less controversial) organizations like the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce or Out & Equal Workplace Advocates.

I have many, many issues with the HRC, but everything I've seen and read about these changes to the CEI suggest good news and progress, even for transgender folks. I may be proved wrong, but I don't want to jump the gun, either.