Jun. 30, 2023 "Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney says Bud Light didn't support her during backlash": Today I found this article on CBC:
Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney says she felt abandoned by Bud Light after facing "more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined" over her partnership with the beer giant.
In a video posted Thursday to Instagram and TikTok, she said she "was waiting for the brand to reach out to me. But they never did." She said she should have spoken out sooner but was afraid and hoped things would get better — but they didn't.
"For months now, I've been scared to leave my house," Mulvaney said. "I have been ridiculed in public. I've been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn't wish on anyone."
A deluge of criticism and hate erupted soon after Mulvaney cracked open a Bud Light in an Instagram video on April 1 as part of a social media promotion for the beer.
She showed off a can emblazoned with her face that Bud Light sent to her — one of many corporate freebies she gets and shares with her millions of followers.
Conservative figures and others called for a boycott of Bud Light, while Mulvaney's supporters criticized the brand for not doing enough to support her.
In the weeks and months that followed,
two marketing executives at parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev took a leave of absence,
Bud Light lost its decades-long position as America's best-selling beer
and the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest advocacy group for LGBTQ rights, suspended its benchmark equality and inclusion rating for the brewing giant.
"For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse, in my opinion, than not hiring a trans person at all — because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want," Mulvaney said, without naming Bud Light.
Belgium-based ABInBev didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.
In an April 14 statement, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said the company "never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/mulvaney-bud-light-backlash-1.6893906
Aug. 30, 2023 "Indeed is offering $10,000 to trans workers who want to relocate to friendlier states": Today I found this article by Jeff Green on the Financial Post:
Indeed Inc., the online job-search company, has introduced a US$10,000 relocation payment for transgender employees or those with transgender children,
signalling a new front in the corporate pushback against state policies restricting the lives of LGBTQ people.
While Indeed introduced the program to its employees in July, until now the company has not discussed it publicly.
Shortly after Indeed announced the initiative, Sam Burger, a 30-year-old senior content creator at the company who uses the pronouns they and them, left their hometown of Austin, Tex., for Denver, Col., a place they felt would be friendlier to those seeking gender-affirming care.
The Indeed payment has gone toward a relocation that, they estimated, has cost them US$5,000 so far.
“As soon as I found out that I was getting the money, it was very much like a weight lifted,” Burger said, recognizing that many transgender workers don’t have the same options.
Traditionally, companies only paid such costs when they required an employee to move for a new job.
By asking employers for financial assistance when moving for personal reasons — avoiding such things as state-level LGBTQ laws and higher taxes
— Burger and others like them are flexing their power in what has been a tight labour market, corporate relocation experts say.
None of the experts contacted were aware of another company that was taking the initiative and offering to relocate transgender workers.
Indeed’s policy could make it a target of conservative groups, who continue pressuring companies to moderate their support for LGBTQ causes.
Target Corp. and Bud Light beer both faced protests this year, first from conservatives upset with transgender marketing programs,
and then from the LGBTQ community for backing off those commitments following sales losses.
Maeve DuVally, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. communications executive and
author of Maeve Rising: Coming Out Trans in Corporate America,
which chronicles her experience of coming out as a transgender woman,
said that companies choosing to follow Indeed’s example must be committed to the policy and prepare for backlash. “You certainly don’t want to backtrack,” she said.
More than 20 states have passed laws aimed at restricting gender-affirming care for minors, according to a tracking site maintained by LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
Texas, Florida, Tennessee and North Dakota are among the states that have passed the most new laws considered anti-LGBTQ, HRC said.
After Texas and Florida passed their laws, Indeed’s LGBTQ employees reported feeling uneasy about their personal futures in those states.
Misty Gaither, Indeed’s vice-president of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, said the company consulted with its business resource group for LGBTQ workers about how best to respond.
The company will cover any tax liability created by the US$10,000 payment, which is considered income, Gaither said. So far, Burger is one of only a few employees who have participated. The relocation stipend matches the US$10,000 annual limit for reimbursement for travel out of state for medical treatment, she added.
Gaither said the Texas-based company knows it could incur the wrath of state officials for introducing a policy that could be viewed as critical of their actions, adding that “this might not work for all companies.”
Mark Woelfel, senior vice-president of global client services at relocation company CapRelo, said that before the pandemic, “individual initiated moves” represented less than one per cent of the business.
Now such requests are as high as 10 per cent of the business. Company stipends to help employees move for non-job reasons typically range from US$5,000 to US$30,000.
It’s not just out of Texas, either. Bill Mulholland, owner of ARC Relocation, said that in the past year one California-based company offered a paid relocation to about 50 workers to help them move to Texas for lower taxes.
“We’ve never seen something like that before,” he said.
Since Indeed’s Burger moved to Denver with their dog and two cats, they’ve felt more welcome. They hope to have gender-affirming surgery and hormone therapy, they said, adding that their new hospital has been much more accommodating than medical services in Austin.
And Indeed insurance will pay for all the costs, Burger said. “Folks want to work at a company that they perceive is taking care of employees,” they added.
https://financialpost.com/fp-work/indeed-offering-10000-trans-workers-relocate-states
How woke can you go, FP?
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