LGBTQ

More people today are living as refugees or displaced persons than at any time since the end of World War II1 and many of those seeking asylum are from the LGBTQ2+ community. In more than 70 countries around the world LGBTQ2+ people are facing extreme violence and persecution.2 They are looking for hope and a safe place to call home.

Detroit will again show off the colors of the rainbow this weekend (June 8-9), celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) culture at Motor City Pride, an annual two-day festival and parade that is the largest LGBTQ gathering in Michigan.

Subaru of America, Inc. today announced that for the third year running, the company has received a perfect score of 100 percent on the 2019 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the nation’s premier benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation. Subaru joins the ranks of major U.S. businesses that also earned top scores this year.

Most AI systems need to see millions of examples to learn to do a task. But using real-world data to train these algorithms means that historical and contemporary biases against marginalized groups like women, people of color and the LGBTQ community get baked into the programs. “It’s humans that are biased and the data that we generated that is training the AI to be biased,” says Andrew Bolwell, HP’s global head of tech strategy and ventures. “It’s a human problem that humans need to take ownership of.”

Young people like Sweden’s 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, whose Fridays for Future climate change strikes are mobilizing students around the planet, are motivated, passionate and committed to solving the problems they see in the world around them. From Mari Copeny, a sixth-grader in Flint, Michigan, whose appeal to then-President Barack Obama got him to devote $100 million to fixing the city’s water crisis, to other young environmentalists like U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s 16-year-old daughter Isra Hirsi, today’s young people aren’t waiting for change to happen.

Scotiabank announced its signing of both the UN LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex) Standards for Business Conduct and the UN Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs), further demonstrating the Bank’s continued commitment to Diversity and Inclusion and the alignment to the Bank’s Sustainable Business strategy, launched in its 2018 Sustainable Business report. The signing of these two UN initiatives provides Scotiabank the opportunity to showcase the great work already underway in Diversity and Inclusion.

In August 2018, we hosted a Diversity and Inclusion Summit with more than 200 guests from companies and organizations throughout Michigan. During the opening session, more than 15 Consumers Energy coworkers shared personal and not immediately visible details about themselves to demonstrate the value of including everyone using #IncludeMe.

In today's Culture Spotlight, Cass A. shares stories of being excluded because he was obese as a kid, starting a transgender support group, what it really takes to be an ally, and how Symantec has supported his professional and personal journey over the last twelve years.

The Ally Program at CBRE supports the LGBTQ community to enrich the lives of everyone, inside and outside of the workplace. In addition, The Ally Network group also provides an open-minded support system for conducting business while addressing the personal requirements of our LGBT community.

Higher rates of workplace diversity can help companies evolve, innovate, problem-solve and be more efficient. It attracts the best talent, and helps define a company's reputation as a responsible company.