The Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization. Contributions or gifts made to the Association, including membership dues, are not deductible as charitable contributions.
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Out of 5,670 seats in Fortune 500 companies, It is estimated that only 30 or 0.5% are occupied by LGBTQ+ people. If you exclude the 4 LGBTQ+ CEOs, the number of independent directors gets even smaller. These numbers dwindle when you look at Fortune 1000 and beyond publicly listed companies.
All-straight boards are not only a statistical aberration, but also unfortunately a passive and persistent form of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people which is very common in business.
The underlying issue is often lack of access, mistrust, and discomfort with LGBTQ+ people. The challenge for LGBTQ+ people to gain admittance to corporate boards is the same as for other minorities: a secretive and discretionary selection process. To be elected by shareholders, candidates must be nominated to stand for election by current board members or by an investor. These are positions which cannot be applied to.
LGBTQ+ represent is not an issue of an LGBTQ+ pipeline of talent. To paraphrase Mitt Romney, the LGBTQ+ association has binders and binders of Board-ready LGBTQ+ people including prominent top-tier corporate leaders who have not been tapped for Board service.
The Association is focused on bringing diversity to the LGBTQ+ Corporate Governance World.
Our slate of candidates respect gender parity and we are looking for diverse candidates in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, age, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, education.
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There is enormous power in corporate boardrooms, and underrepresentation perpetuates the economic marginalization of LGBTQ+ people.
Encouraging board members to disclose their sexual orientation and gender identity is a step towards addressing the issue in the conservative corporate governance world. Companies that disclose sexual orientation and gender identity dispel the myth that Directors are unwilling to self-disclose.
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