Businesses are investing in furthering LGBT rights inside and outside the workplace because “their competitive edge depends on it,” Out Leadership’s Stephanie Sandberg is quoted as saying in a recent Quartz article. This should not be surprising: the global LGBT market is estimated to have a buying power of $3.7 trillion, and companies that seek to recruit and retain top talent know they have to appeal to the LGBT community.
According to Out Leadership’s Founder & Principal Todd Sears, who was also quoted in the article, the economic imperative of LGBT inclusion means that, “big business was way out ahead of government when to came to creating domestic partner benefits for their team—and they remain way out in front when it comes to non-discrimination policies.”
The lack of a federal LGBT nondiscrimination law makes doing business harder for large national and multinational companies that have to contend with a patchwork of state and local policies, many of which allow for discrimination against members of the LGBT community. The result, says Sears, is that “if a state wants to allow for discrimination against the LGBT community, companies will choose to take their employees and business elsewhere.”