Pro-Equality Companies

These companies are great places to spend your money.  Not only are they proudly supportive of LGBT rights, including marriage equality, but they also put their money where their mouth is by donating millions of dollars to pro-equality campaigns and issues.  If you're going to spend that hard-earned cash, these are great places to do it: 

1)  Levi's

Very active in political activism and public calls for LGBT equality, Levi's even ties pro-marriage equality white ribbons to the mannequins in their U.S. stores.  Levi's was also the first Fortune 500 company to offer benefits for same-sex partners of their employees. 

2)  Nike

Nike isn't afraid to go on record in support of marriage equality, and the company has donated big money to help achieve it.  Nike also offers equal benefits to all its employees -- whether they're straight or gay. 

3)  Microsoft

They have pumped some seriously big-time cash into pro-marriage equality campaigns, as well as to help defeat discriminatory state laws in the U.S.  Chairman Bill Gates (the world's richest man), and Microsoft CEO Stephen Ballmer, have also showed support on their own by personally donating their own money to equality campaigns.  Microsoft also gives benefits for their employees' same-sex partners. 

4)  American Airlines

Very active in the fight for same-sex marriage rights, AA also treats all its employees equally when it comes to benefits and everything else. 

5)  Apple

Apple has given major money to pro-equality campaigns, including the fight against Prop 8 in California, and gives its employees in same-sex relationships the same benefits as the ones in opposite-sex relationships.  So all of you who use the iPhone, iPod, iMac and iPad, in addition to getting a great product you're also helping support equality! 

6)  Google

Google has always been a major player on the equality front.  Proudly celebrating diversity, giving full health benefits to partners of all employees, and contributing big checks with lots of zeros on them to fight against inequality, Google's about as fiercely pro-LGBT as you can get.  The founders of Google have also donated hundreds of thousands of their own personal dollars toward equality. 

7)  Starbucks Coffee

The Seattle-based coffee giant frequently features pro-LGBT messages in their shops and on their products, extends equal benefits to partners of employees, and have always been publicly supportive of equal rights for the LGBT community. 

8)  Ford, Volvo, Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes

These auto titans have each been very supportive of equal rights for LGBTs around the globe. 

9)  The Coca Cola Company and Pepsi Cola Company

Both of the world's biggest beverage companies are well known for being supportive of LGBT rights, and both received perfect scores for equality from the Human Rights Campaign in the U.S.  This one makes me smile because essentially the whole world loves softdrinks, and 95% of all softdrinks sold worldwide (from Sprite to Mountain Dew) are made by either Coke or Pepsi.  So even when anti-gay people buy these products they're unwittingly supporting LGBT rights! 

10)  Scandinavian Airlines

SAS is a staunch public supporter of LGBT rights in every way.  The company, which is jointly owned by the governments of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, is well known for having the world's first same-sex marriage performed at 30,000 feet on a flight from New York City to Stockholm. 

11)  Johnson & Johnson

The maker of a wide range of personal hygiene products sold the world over.  They're also very pro-LGBT rights and marriage equality, and have donated cash to further those rights.

Also noted for their full support of equality are the following companies, which also grant health benefits equally to partners/spouses of same-sex couples: 

The Walt Disney Company

IBM

Nokia

Yahoo!

MasterCard, Visa, and American Express

Hewlett-Packard

Dell

Coors Beer, and Anheuser-Busch (maker of Budweiser)

GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, and Pfizer (pharmaceutical companies) 

The Shell and Chevron oil companies

Kodak

Marriott Hotels International

Unilever