WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization, today released its 2009 "Buying for Equality" guide, aimed at helping consumers identify hundreds of businesses and brands that support equality and fairness in the workplace for the LGBT community. The guide includes listings from a record 260 companies that received a perfect 100 percent score on our 2009 Corporate Equality Index, an annual report on company policies related to diversity & inclusion training, non-discrimination policies and access to healthcare for LGBT employees and their families. To download or request a copy of the guide visit: www.hrc.org/buyersguide. To get the buyer's guide on your phone, text SHOP and the name of the company to 30644.

"With this year's economy, we need to make sure every dollar we spend goes to businesses that have earned the right to call you a customer," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "Every day, we make choices that send a powerful message about our values, our principles and our ideals. We do it every time we make decisions on how to clothe and feed our families or what investments to make. Where we spend and invest our dollars has remarkable potential to positively affect the LGBT community because it reinforces what many companies know: fairness is good business."

According to a Witeck-Combs/Market Research.com study, the buying power of the LGBT community is estimated to be $759 billion in 2009. During difficult economic times, our nation's businesses know that every dollar spent by consumers figures into the success of their organization.

This is the fourth year the Human Rights Campaign has published the widely-popular "Buying for Equality" consumer guide. The guide has been viewed and downloaded off of HRC's website more than 275,000 times. This year, HRC included businesses that did not respond to survey request over the past three years. Each non-responder was provided a score of "?" and placed into the red section of the relevant buying category. HRC looks forward to building positive, working relationships with these businesses and encourages readers of the Buyer's Guide that contact these companies to report their responses to HRC.

Scores in the "Buying for Equality" guide are determined through scoring criteria in the HRC Foundation's Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the only nationally recognized measure of LGBT workplace equality. The CEI is the primary method for companies to evaluate their diversity efforts toward LGBT employees, customers, and investors. To learn more about the CEI visit: www.hrc.org/cei.

"Buying for Equality" breaks companies and their products into easily distinguishable purchasing categories. Some categories include:

Companies/products are divided based on their CEI score into red, yellow, and green sections so that consumers can easily determine which brands support GLBT equality.

The Human Rights Campaign recently released a list of the businesses and organizations that supported California's Proposition 8, the discriminatory amendment passed on Election Day that eliminates the right for same-sex couples to marry in the state. Although several Fortune 500 companies and organizations contributed to the No on 8 Campaign, no Fortune 500 companies were found to have contributed to the Yes on 8 Campaign. The data was searched for donations derived directly from businesses and organizations, rather than from individuals or national advocacy groups. To view the complete list of businesses and organizations who supported Proposition 8, visit: www.hrc.org/prop8supporters.

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.