Out Leadership releases the annual State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index for 2022. Todd Sears, founder and CEO of Out Leadership, joins Cheddar News to discuss the findings. 

Between Bells

Out Leadership's Annual State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index for 2022

between bells everyone and cheddar news. I'm baker machado in new york and this segment is brought you by Jpmorgan Chase, advancing equality for the L G B T Q plus community and celebrating pride all year long now. The Premier Global network for L G b T Q plus business leaders and companies out leadership. Earlier this month unveiled their fourth annual state L G B T Q plus Business Climate index for the year. And that index is a ranking of the highest and lowest of all 50 states as it relates to legal, political, emotional support, health, business and other parameters. All for L G B T Q plus americans. So joining us now to discuss is Todd Sears the founder and ceo of out leadership Todd, thanks so much for joining us. So first for those who might not be familiar with this, explain a little bit about what your company's mission is here. Sure, and thanks for having me and I appreciate you highlighting this and and thanks to jpmorgan for sponsoring the segment. Um our leadership as you mentioned, is the Premier Global Network for LGBT equality. From a business perspective, I'm a recovering banker, I like to say. And I started an investment in private banking and started the organization 12 years ago with the idea yeah, that I could get leaders C. E. O. S and businesses to use their economic platform to advocate for equality all over the world and that's what we've done the last 12 years. I really love that you guys do this. So let's talk about sort of the parameters here Todd. So how does it sort of highlight sort of the categories and sort of the the things that the states are doing well and not doing well here. Sure. Well five years ago post marriage equality, we started having a lot of conversations with leaders to unfortunately sort of thought that because marriage equality passed that all the issues with the ultimate T. Q. Community were done. We solved all the problems and of course we know that that's not the case. There are still massive discriminatory issues at the state level. But there was no sort of one source that we could turn to to point to that and explain that to leaders in both business and government. So we create this index to to highlight that. So there are 20 different data points that we created across five different categories. All the data is publicly available. There's no opinion from our leadership in it whatsoever. It's not subjective and some of it's quite binary. Does the state allow conversion therapy? Can trans people change their birth markers on driver's license or birth certificates Is HIV still criminalized at the state level which happens in 31 states by the way. So a lot of this is stuff that people just didn't know. And then based off of those 20 data points then we give the states a score and we rank them. So number one this year for the second year in a row was New York and the very last state in the nation for the fourth year in a row in South Carolina. And then states move in between and it is a living index. So the biggest change this year, as you might imagine was florida. Given the don't say gay bill and the preponderance of trans bills this year really factored into the scoring. I'm glad you mentioned that because look, there's been 240 anti LGBTQ laws that have been passed in myriad different states. Most of them we should note targeting the trans community. So I'm glad you sort of highlighted that based off of what's happening in the legislative process regarding the community. Does that impact the state florida? Perfect example here. Absolutely. And our our perspective is that these states are literally sacrificing their current talent and their future talent and business opportunity to pass these laws that are seeking to solve a problem that doesn't exist if you think of the trans laws in texas, for example, that are preventing families from from providing gender affirming care to their trans kids, the American Medical Association, the American pediatric Association, both of whom know a lot more about this issue than texas. Legislatures have all said that gender affirming care is the right approach for Children. And yet these legislatures are trying to use the LGBT community As a political tool once again, which is not the first time that that's happened to us over the last 50 years. And so we're making the case and trying to point it out with data that these laws are harming talent. We know that 26% of LGBTQ people have left anti gay states in the last two years to move to more friendly states. That's a direct outcome of these bills and these laws, As well as 35% of LGBT people right now are thinking about moving. We also know there was an NBC poll that came out that showed that students in college who were going to school in anti L G B T Q states are deciding not to stay in those states after graduation because they don't want to live in an unfriendly place. Yeah. And then there's other states, for instance, michigan went up 7.5 points in terms of the increase. So you can also see the benefits of when states implement, you know, L G B T Q plus policies that are good. You see a state obviously doing well, they're given how the the year has gone thus far Todd. And we also have the roe v wade situation in Clarence thomas's opinion that came with that what is sort of your outlook, at least for the rest of the year when it comes to a lot of these states. Well, I'll say two things. One, our our goal is not to name and shame. My goal is to highlight these issues and help the states improve. And I'm really proud. We've had four states just since this year's index was launched, we've reached out to out leadership to say, how can we be better, help us be better. We know that this matters and that's actually the outcome that we're seeking. It's not about anything other than that. Um, so one that is progress in my mind. I think to your question about Clarence thomas and the hypocrisy of his, his statement, I mean, someone who benefited directly from loving the loving Supreme Court ruling is talking about undoing other Supreme Court rulings that give other communities equality is just beyond me. It's so incredible. But it's also laid bare the hypocrisy and and the goal to to make this more of a theocracy going forward. And I think I think there's a positive in that because it is galvanizing for people and I think it's connecting movements. So if you take the heat map that you just showed around the states that are L. G. B. T. Q. Unfriendly and friendly and you overlay it with the states that are now passing abortion laws and the states that are making it harder for people of color to vote, they're the exact same places. And so if we talk about these as aligned movements and the fact that it's I think no longer republican or democrat, it's, people who want to live in a world that we are moving forward and it's about opportunity and about kindness. People just want to live love and work in a place of safety as I think your prior guest was talking about, it's about being seen and heard and supported um not survival of the fittest, I think he said, but it's survival of the supported, I think that's the world we want to live in and I think there are more and more people who are trying to move past the old structures of political, of our political system to get us there and I'm hopeful that this movement that we're that we're creating from our leadership perspective and leading it with business will be able to help drive that. Absolutely, and and look just being transparent, I think just from the numbers themselves, I think speak for themselves, Todd really quickly with the last few minutes I have our seconds, I have left with you Todd, What does pride mean to you? You know, it's funny when I went to my first pride parade many, many years ago and over the years, it's been exciting to get companies involved with pride and to to have the movement celebrate so much of our progress. If you look 20 years ago, what we've accomplished since it was in the last 20 years, marriage equality, non discrimination in employment, trans rights. Don't ask, don't tell falling all of that is an opportunity celebrated pride this year. I had the opportunity to take a new mentee to pride for his very first pride. He's a black gay gymnast at West Point, he's a rising junior and the opportunity to hear his story as someone who was supported at the U. S. Military Academy as an out gay man and then be able to introduce him to his community was probably the most special thing that I've been able to do from a pride perspective. So so that's what it means to me. Well, said Todd, thank you so much for joining us. Todd Sears founder and ceo of out leadership and JPMorgan Chase is committed to supporting the LGBT plus community and advancing financial equality for all these at jpmorgan Chase dot com slash l g b t. To learn more.