Uniting Pride of Champaign County has developed 10 Affirming Business Standards to support the local C-U business community in tackling discrimination against LGBTQ+ communities. The Standards act as a resource for businesses and apply to both employees and customers.
To be included in the LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Network, please contact us at [email protected]. Your inclusion in the Network is updated annually, and is contingent on your agreement and compliance with our Standards.
LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Standards:
As an LGBTQ+ affirming business, I understand that I have responsibility to respect the rights of my LGBTQ+ employees, customers, and community members. To uphold this duty, I agree to:
1. Develop policies, exercise due diligence, and remediate adverse impacts to ensure that I respect the human rights of LGBTQ+ communities.
2. Incorporate nondiscrimination policies. These policies will be included in LGBTQ+ persons recruitment, employment, working conditions, benefits, respect for privacy, or treatment of harassment.
3. Seek to create an affirming environment for employees, customers, and all community members that may enter my storefront or workplace. Some ways to do this include:
4. Provide a positive, affirmative environment so that LGBTQ+ employees can work with dignity and without stigma. Some ways to create a positive workplace include:
5. To better provide inclusive and equitable care to all LGBTQ+ employees, I will attempt to offer the following health benefits (this may be out of your control and is therefore not necessary for your inclusion in the LGBTQ+ business directory):
6. Incorporate further training of managers, supervisors and employees and including best practices for implementing and maintaining a diverse workforce with a culture of inclusion and acceptance. This may include:
7. Demonstrate ongoing LGBTQ+ community engagement. Examples include:
8. Attempt to include LGBTQ+ contractors/suppliers, and should require any other suppliers or contractors to comply with LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination practices
9. Incorporate LGBTQ+ diversity metrics into senior management performance measures (when applicable)
10. Listen to and be receptive of any feedback I receive from LGBTQ+ communities regarding any perceived or alleged instances of discrimination, bullying, hate, or the like. I agree to work to build knowledge regarding best LGBTQ+ practices and will remediate any harm to LGBTQ+ communities in a prompt manner. If I do not comply with the aforementioned Standards or demonstrate carelessness towards LGBTQ+ communities, I will be immediately removed from the Affirming Businesses Directory.
A business listed in our Directory understands that these LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Standards must be met regularly and continuously, and failure to do so will result in removal from the LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Directory.
If you have any questions about these standards, or would like to voluntarily remove yourself from the LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Directory, please email us at [email protected].
To be included in the LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Network, please contact us at [email protected]. Your inclusion in the Network is updated annually, and is contingent on your agreement and compliance with our Standards.
LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Standards:
As an LGBTQ+ affirming business, I understand that I have responsibility to respect the rights of my LGBTQ+ employees, customers, and community members. To uphold this duty, I agree to:
1. Develop policies, exercise due diligence, and remediate adverse impacts to ensure that I respect the human rights of LGBTQ+ communities.
- I will also establish mechanisms to monitor and communicate about my compliance with human rights standards.
2. Incorporate nondiscrimination policies. These policies will be included in LGBTQ+ persons recruitment, employment, working conditions, benefits, respect for privacy, or treatment of harassment.
- If I have existing nondiscrimination policies,I will expand them to include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity to ensure that they comply with Title VII's protection of 'sex' in its totality
- In my nondiscrimination policy, I will also include a non-retaliation policy that permits employees to come forward without fear of retribution in instances of potential LGBTQ+ discrimination.
3. Seek to create an affirming environment for employees, customers, and all community members that may enter my storefront or workplace. Some ways to do this include:
- Installing gender-neutral restrooms
- Asking for customers name/pronoun
- Displaying pride flags/inclusive pictures
- Having inclusive forms of communication/order forms
4. Provide a positive, affirmative environment so that LGBTQ+ employees can work with dignity and without stigma. Some ways to create a positive workplace include:
- Creating inclusive policies reflecting current nomenclature.
- Developing gender-transition resources for employees.
- Engage employees in quarterly or biyearly climate surveys to assess the friendliness of the workplace
- Using correct employee pronouns and names, and allowing employees to design their own badge or name tag to reflect this
- Inviting same-sex partners and families of all types to company-wide social events
5. To better provide inclusive and equitable care to all LGBTQ+ employees, I will attempt to offer the following health benefits (this may be out of your control and is therefore not necessary for your inclusion in the LGBTQ+ business directory):
- Equivalency in same- and different-sex spousal/domestic partner medical and soft benefits.
- Equal health coverage for transgender individuals without exclusion for medically necessary care
6. Incorporate further training of managers, supervisors and employees and including best practices for implementing and maintaining a diverse workforce with a culture of inclusion and acceptance. This may include:
- Integration of gender identity and sexual orientation in professional development, skills-based or other leadership training that includes elements of diversity and/or cultural competency
- Modernizing harassment-prevention training with realistic and representative scenarios, including those reflecting LGBTQ issues.
7. Demonstrate ongoing LGBTQ+ community engagement. Examples include:
- Marketing or advertising to LGBTQ consumers (e.g.: advertising with LGBTQ content, advertising in LGBTQ media or sponsoring LGBTQ organizations and events)
- Philanthropic support LGBTQ+ organizations or events
- Demonstrated public support for LGBTQ+ equality
8. Attempt to include LGBTQ+ contractors/suppliers, and should require any other suppliers or contractors to comply with LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination practices
9. Incorporate LGBTQ+ diversity metrics into senior management performance measures (when applicable)
10. Listen to and be receptive of any feedback I receive from LGBTQ+ communities regarding any perceived or alleged instances of discrimination, bullying, hate, or the like. I agree to work to build knowledge regarding best LGBTQ+ practices and will remediate any harm to LGBTQ+ communities in a prompt manner. If I do not comply with the aforementioned Standards or demonstrate carelessness towards LGBTQ+ communities, I will be immediately removed from the Affirming Businesses Directory.
A business listed in our Directory understands that these LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Standards must be met regularly and continuously, and failure to do so will result in removal from the LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Directory.
If you have any questions about these standards, or would like to voluntarily remove yourself from the LGBTQ+ Affirming Business Directory, please email us at [email protected].