Dive Brief:

• The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, late last week announced creation of a groundbreaking global coalition committed to advancing LGBT workplace equality around the world. 
• The inaugural members of HRC’s global corporate coalition collectively employ nearly 1.4 million people across more than 190 countries and have a combined annual revenue of nearly $550 billion.
• The twelve founding coalition members are: Accenture, AT&T, CA Technologies, The Coca-Cola Company, Destination Weddings Travel Group, Google, IBM, Microsoft Corp., Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, Procter & Gamble, Replacements, Ltd., and Symantec Corp.

Dive Insight:

HRC President Chad Griffin said the founding members understand that equality, inclusion and engagement are pivotal to business success. "Today, they are sending a resounding message that LGBT people are valued, they are equal, and they deserve a fair chance to earn a living and provide for their families no matter where they live," Griffin said.

The HRC said that the business case for LGBT inclusion has strong momentum, spurred by U.S.-based multinationals across the Fortune 500, a majority of which afford explicit protections on the basis of sexual orientation (89%) and gender identity (66%). The trend toward LGBT-inclusive corporate policies is growing in the Americas, East Asia, Australia, and in Europe.

That's the good news. The bad news, the HRC adds, is that the global landscape for the social and economic inclusion of the LGBT community remains a patchwork of extremes -- from progressive countries leading on matters of equality, to nations implementing laws rolling back basic LGBT rights.