Human Rights Campaign releases 2025 Corporate Equality Index

The Human Rights Campaign has released its much-anticipated 2025 Corporate Equality Index, which measures how businesses are working to support the LGBTQ community in the workplace. The annual report, which debuted in 2002, offers key insights about the ways in which businesses are approaching LGBTQ equality. HRC's Corporate Equality Index involves businesses with at least 500 full-time employees and grades them on non-discrimination policies, equitable benefits for LGBTQ workers and families, support of inclusive culture, and corporate social responsibility. The 2025 report has become an important evaluation of LGBTQ support and inclusion among business at a time when certain companies are beginning to roll back workplace protections and shed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, including at Meta, Ford, and Lowe's. Despite those trends, HRC's report is more of a mixed bag and shows some promising developments, as well. Notably, however, some companies have disavowed HRC's Corporate Equality Index: Lowe's, for example, announced last year that it would no longer participate in the Corporate Equality Index, while Brown-Forman, which owns Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel’s, sent an email to employees informing them that the company would also be ditching the Corporate Equality Index. The report highlighted 765 businesses with top scores of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index, representing a 28% increase since last year. Some of the businesses include major names like Apple, Citigroup Inc., General Motors, LinkedIn, and Macy's, as well as regional brands like Hannaford Supermarkets, which operates stores in New England and New York. In the category of inclusive benefits, this year's report showed a 25% uptick in the number of companies offering LGBTQ health benefits, encompassing 75% of the participating companies — up from 63% in 2023-24. Furthermore, 1,051 companies included in the report implemented gender transition guidelines — an increase of 21% from last year — complete with guidance for employees, managers, and colleagues. The report also noted that 82% of companies in the report provide equal spousal and partner medical benefits, 82% offer equal "family formation" benefits, and 87% of companies offer equal health benefits for trans individuals. There has been a consistent increase in the amount of companies offering gender transition guidelines: The number of companies with those guidelines was 660 in 2022, 974 in 2023-04, and 1,172 in 2025. Similarly, the number of companies with trans-inclusive healthcare benefits in at least one firm-wide plan has increased significantly since 2009, but has somewhat leveled off as of late: There were just 46 such companies in 2009, followed by 421 in 2015, 1,298 in 2023-24, and 1,317 in 2025. Of all the companies in the report, 765 received top scores of 100 points in the 2025 Corporate Equality Index, and 98% showed that they include "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in their employment non-discrimination policy. More than three-quarters, or 84%, of employers in the report provide training for managers and supervisors pertaining to gender identity and sexual orientation. On a broader level, 75% of employers in the report provide at least four ways to support LGBTQ diversity competency among staffers. Furthermore, 98% of companies in the report have an employee resource group or diversity council with LGBTQ employees and allies as well as programming. Another category in the report was corporate social responsibility. Nearly three-quarters of businesses in the report had at least five ways of publicly committing to the LGBTQ community, including LGBTQ supplier diversity programs, marketing and advertising to LGBTQ consumers, philanthropic support of LGBTQ groups or events, public policy, and LGBTQ-inclusive product and services.