June 30^th, 2010

The 3^rd Annual Congress of the IGLCC was held from June 9-11, 2010 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands together with the Company Pride Platform 2010 International LGBT Business Conference.

The very high level of knowledge and expertise from the international speakers and panelists, combined with the exceptional contributions of the keynote speakers, moderators and the active participation of the attendees were essential elements in bringing leadership and visibility to a higher level during the congress. The IGLCC extends great thanks for their time, valuable information and shared experiences.

Again this year, the congress highlighted the unveiling of the 2010 International Business Equality Index, announced by the IGLCC Secretary General, Pascal Lépine and the 2010 Index Committee Chairman, David Pollard during a Press Conference at the Bimhuis. This year's Top 5 Most LGBT Friendly Corporations in the World are IBM, Google, BT Group, Morgan Stanley and Cisco Systems. The IGLCC thanks all participating corporations and invites them to the 2010 Index Seminar taking place in London, England on September 23, 2010.

The Congress was concluded by a Gala Dinner celebrating LGBT diversity and equality in business presented by Continental Airlines and in partnership with IBM, ING, Sofitel Amsterdam The Grand and Sodexo. This year network - Swiss Gay Business Association received the International LGBT Business Organization of the Year Award, Mr. Gareth Thomas got the International Awareness Award, Lord Alli was awarded the International LGBT Entrepreneur of the Year, ING was the International Corporation of the Year and finally the City of Amsterdam received the International Leadership Award.

The IGLCC would like to thank all its members and partners for all their support during the congress.

A very warm thanks as well to all the volunteers who donated so generously of their time and energy, contributing greatly to the success of the event.

We look forward to continue working with all members of the international LGBT business community in advancing diversity and promoting equality in business for every LGBT individual. We call upon corporations, business owners and the LGBT community in all capacities to engage with the IGLCC in realizing its mission and fulfilling its vision.

We salute each and every company that participated in this year's Index. These are world leaders in LGBT diversity:

American Airlines, British Council, BT Group, Cisco Systems, Continental Airlines, Credit Suisse, Cummins, Inc., Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Post DHL, Google, IBM, ING Group, Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd., LAN Airlines, Lenovo Group, Merck, Morgan Stanley, Paul Hastings LLP, Philips, Royal Dutch Shell, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP, TD Bank Financial Group, The Dow Chemical Company, TNT and UBS AG.

We all look to them to continue helping IGLCC by promoting their diversity policies, proudly displaying their IGLCC Index 2010 Decals and encouraging their peer corporations around the world to participate in the 2011 Index.

Go to www.iglcc.org/index2010 to download a copy of the 2010 Index Report

Following the very successful previous Gay and Lesbian Business Leader Forums in Zürich, (October 2007 and June 2009), we present Diversity as a Competitive Advantage in Emerging Markets to provide a forum for exploring the importance of corporate diversity management; especially for companies that focus their strategy on growth in emerging markets.

IBM, egma & IGLCC extend a special invitation to participate in the 3^rd International Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual And Transgender Business Leader Forum. We put in the event a particular focus on GLBT business aspects in emerging markets, looking for the answers to questions such as:

• Is GLBT Diversity a significant driver for business growth?
• How to find the right balance between social and economic aspects of GLBT diversity?
• What are the specifics for implementation of diversity in emerging markets?
• How to approach GLBT market segments and generate business?

A series of workshops will take place at the Hilton Convention Center in Warsaw. In addition to the seminars, during the event participants will have many other networking opportunities to benefit from. Not to miss the Gala Dinner.

The preliminary program is now online and can be download here:
http://bit.ly/8Ylk2m

Registrations are open! Be part of the event by registering today!
http://bit.ly/dmBgeq

We are looking forward to seeing you at 3iGLBT-BLF during EuroPride 2010!

The choice of South America follows the growth in visibility given to the continent with the creation in 2009 of two national LGBT Chambers of Commerce, in Brazil and in Argentina. There are great potential and major developments in South America, not only in these two countries, but also in the whole continent. The LGBT business community realizes this opportunity and will be gathering in Buenos Aires to celebrate the advancements made and elaborate together a strategy to continuing this growth in the future.

The 3^rd Global Summit will count with the presence of renowned international speakers presenting their expertise on current topics. The IGLCC will present as well the latest developments on its main initiatives, the International Business Equality Index and the International LGBT Business Data Base.

The event will be held at the centrally located Novotel Buenos Aires. LAN Airlines is the official airline of the 3^rd Global Summit.

More details will be coming up soon.

Save the date to join us in South America!

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Laurence Bernstein is the managing partner of Protean Strategies, and is one of Canada's best known and respected strategic planners. A graduate of Cornell University, he is a regular contributor to Marketing magazine and has published articles in numerous business publications in Canada, USA and Germany.

Does global business really play a role in LGBT equality around the world?

IGLCC 3^rd Annual Congress in Amsterdam last month was a forum for innovation and new ideas in the LGBT business and diversity space. Much of the discussion revolved around diversity and the contributions big business can make to equality around the world mostly because of the release of the IGLCC International Business Equality Index, 2010 version. This is the second annual edition of this survey, and revealed some interesting realities.

We know that in a micro sense, on a country by country basis, business is becoming increasingly focused on diversity -- the HRC and Stonewall surveys prove this year after year. But what we did not know, and what we are finding out via the IGLCC survey, is the degree to which companies operating at an international level are stepping up to their responsibilities in countries where diversity is not mandated. In other words, we are only now learning the depth of commitment to human rights of large corporations: it's one thing to have myriad programs in the US or UK where diversity is mandated and economically rewarded (supplier diversity requirements, etc.); but it's another thing entirely to break new ground where such programs may not be all that well received.

Certainly the companies that participated in the 2010 Index indicate a strong commitment to applying universal levels of diversity programming across all employees in their global systems. And for this they need to be congratulated and lauded. What is not so clear, however, is the degree to which this intrinsic application of diversity standards is affecting the broader communities in which they operate.

This raises the obvious question: do commercial entities have a responsibility to evangelize, or are their responsibilities limited to serving the needs of their various stakeholders (which tends in the main to consist of shareholders, employees and the government of their country of domicile)? It is an enlightened economic view that shareholders are best served by seeking out, training and employing the best people in every office in every country, regardless of sexual orientation. But this enlightenment is not universal -- in fact, it is probably limited to a relatively few corporations headquartered in a relatively few countries.

Singapore, for instance, is not one of those countries. Yet participating companies with offices in Singapore report very high levels of diversity programming and activity. What we learn, though, is that this enlightenment is not seeping out of the individual companies and becoming an agent of change in the community. So, while gay employees of these companies are accepted, catered to and protected from discrimination, the vast majority of LGBT workers in Singapore are not affected by this -- in fact, have no knowledge that these companies have these programs.

As a staunch believer in free market systems I cannot conclude that this is a "failing" of the global corporate world. But I can point to the dismal finding in the survey that shows a decrease in the level of community participation and external LGBT marketing activities. The way companies can make a difference on the ground where they operate, is by doing what they do best: increasing sales by building market share and opening new markets. This has been shown in other countries as one of the key drivers of gay acceptance and normalization -- treating the community as an economic segment on an equal footing with other economic segments.

Of course, this applies only to countries where companies market, not necessarily to countries where the sole activity is production. In those countries the dilemma is more complex and needs to be addressed in terms of the moral ethos of the company.

Buenos Aires
For more information:
encuentro@gnetwork360.com

Buenos Aires
For more information:
cesar.maschmann@iglcc.org

Sexuality/Diversity in the workplace survey launched by GLOBE
Access the survey here
For more information visit GLOBE Website

The GLISA 2011 North America Outgames will be held from July 25^th to July 31^st 2011 and everybody is welcome.
For more information: http://vancouver2011outgames.com/

Wirtschaftsweiber & WyberNet, the national associations of lesbian managers and entrepreneurs of Germany and Switzerland have initiated an European online survey about "The L-World in Business".

Access the survey here
For more information: http://sites.google.com/site/thelworldinbusiness/Home

The premier gay and lesbian Pride event in Europe is EuroPride and will take place in Warsaw Poland from 8-18 July 2010.
Read all about it here

The 3^rd International GLBT Business Leader Forum is a platform to discuss: ''GLBT Diversity as a growth business factor in emerging markets''
View the program here

For more information: http://www.gba.org.uk/events.htm

Colloquium about 2010 Index results and LGBT equality in business
September 23, 2010
BT Tower
For more information: cesar.maschmann@iglcc.org

Out & Equal Workplace Summit – Los Angeles, California
Now accepting workshop proposals for the 2010 Workplace Summit and nominations for the Out & Equal Workplace Awards, known as “the Outies.” The submittal deadline for both is April 30.
For more information: http://outandequal.org/summit-2010

2010 NGLCC National Business & Leadership Conference: Out for Business!
For more information: http://www.nglcc.org/

NGLCC National Dinner: An Evening of Courage!
For more information: http://www.nglcc.org/

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