In December, the Human Rights Campaign released its 2014 Corporate Equality Index, an annual survey of U.S. companies regarding their LGBT-related policies, such as nondiscrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive health care benefits, supplier diversity and engagement with the LGBT community.

Of 934 companies surveyed, a record 304 achieved a grade of 100. Of those 304, 73 met the following criteria:
• Scored 100 on the HRC 2014 CEI, including the distinction of being one of the “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality.”
• Publicly disclosed existence of LGBT employee resource or business groups through registration with Out & Equal Workplace Advocates or company websites.
• Corporate partnership with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

The Top 40

In addition, 40 are also members of the Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness. The BCWF is an alliance of U.S. employers that support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a federal bill that — if passed — would require all employers to provide the same basic protections to all workers. Currently, LGBT employees are not protected under federal law from being fired or discriminated against.

Affinity Inc Magazine proudly salutes the following companies for placing a high value on the contributions of LGBT employees, entrepreneurs and markets. The 40 companies that are also BCWF members are listed in bold.

Accenture PLC (Dublin, Ireland)
Aetna Inc. (Hartford, Conn.)
AIG Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
American Airlines Inc. (Fort Worth, Texas)
American Express Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Ameriprise Financial Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.)
AT &T Inc. (Dallas, Texas)
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (Roseland, N.J.)
Bank of America Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.)
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (New York, N.Y.)
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Caesars Entertainment Corp. (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Capital One Financial Corp. (McLean, Va.)
Chevron Corp. (San Ramon, Calif.)
Chubb Corp. (Warren, N.J.)
Cigna Corp. (Bloomfield, Conn.)
Cisco Systems Inc. (San Jose, Calif.)
Citigroup Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
Comcast Corp. (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Corning Inc. (Corning, N.Y.)
Cummins Inc. (Columbus, Ind.)
Darden Restaurants Inc. (Orlando, Fla.)
Diageo North America Inc. (Norwalk, Conn.)
Ernst & Young (London, U.K.)
Freddie Mac/Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.(McLean, Va.)
Genentech Inc. (South San Francisco, Calif.)
GlaxoSmithKline LLC (Research Triangle Park, N.C.)
Google Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.)
HBO (New York, N.Y.)
Hewlett-Packard Co. (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Hilton Worldwide Inc. (McLean, Va.)
Humana Inc. (Louisville, Ky.)
Hyatt Hotels Corp. (Chicago, Ill.)
IBM Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.)
ING North America Insurance Corp. (Atlanta, Ga.)
Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, N.J.)
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Kellogg Co. (Battle Creek, Mich.)
Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group Inc. (San Francisco, Calif.)
KPMG LLP (Amstelveen, Netherlands)
Limited Brands Inc. (Columbus, Ohio)
Marriott International Inc. (Bethesda, Md.)
Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (Springfield, Mass.)
Merck & Co. Inc. (Whitehouse Station, N.J.)
MetLife Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
MillerCoors LLC (Chicago, Ill.)
Morgan Stanley (New York, N.Y.)
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. (Columbus, Ohio)
Nielsen Corp. (New York, N.Y.)
Nordstrom Inc. (Seattle, Wash.)
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. (East Hanover, N.J.)
Office Depot Inc. (Boca Raton, Fla.)
PepsiCo Inc. (Purchase, N.Y.)
Pfizer Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
PG&E Corp. (San Francisco, Calif.)
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
RBC Wealth Management (Minneapolis, Minn.)
Sodexo USA Inc. (Gaithersburg, Md.)
Southern California Edison (Rosemead, Calif.)
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (Stamford, Conn.)
Target Corp. (Minneapolis, Minn.)
TD Bank N.A. (Cherry Hill, N.J./Portland, Maine)
Time Warner Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
Toyota Financial Services (Torrance, Calif.)
U.S. Bancorp (Minneapolis, Minn.)
United Airlines Inc. (Chicago, Ill.)
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (Minnetonka, Minn.)
Verizon Communications Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
Wells Fargo & Co. (San Francisco, Calif.)
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP (Washington, D.C.)
Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (Parsippany-Troy Hills, N.J.)