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19 Florida businesses make HRC's Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality

Local businesses that made the list include Tech Data and Raymond James Financial.
Credit: AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
People march with a rainbow-colored flag during a gay pride parade in Miami Beach, Fla. Saturday, April 18, 2009.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Human Rights Campaign just released its annual list of best places to work for LGBTQ equality, and more than a dozen Florida-based companies made the cut.

Out of those 19 businesses that ranked as great places to work, 15 got a score of 100 on the HRC's Corporate Equality Index.

HRC's Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality in Florida:

  • L3 Harris Technologies, Melbourne
  • Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., Jacksonville
  • Raymond James Financial Inc., St. Petersburg
  • Seacoast National Bank, Stuart
  • Black Knight Inc., Jacksonville
  • Citrix Systems Inc., Fort Lauderdale
  • Tech Data Corp., Clearwater
  • Univision Communications Inc., Miami
  • Restaurant Brands International, Miami
  • WellCare Health Plans Inc., Tampa
  • Wyndham Destinations, Orlando
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida Inc., Jacksonville
  • Akerman LLP, Miami
  • Carlton Field P.A., Tampa
  • Holland & Knight LLP, Brandon
  • Office Depot Inc., Boca Raton
  • Carnival Corp., Miami
  • Hertz Global Holdings Inc., Estero
  • Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Miami

HRC rates businesses and law firms based on four main criteria: workforce protection, inclusive benefits, supporting an inclusive culture and corporate social responsibility and responsible citizenship.

Workforce protections include having policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity or expression for all operations. Inclusive benefits mean companies offer the same benefits for same-sex and different-sex couples and domestic partners. It also applies to companies that offer equal health coverage for transgender people without excluding medical care.

To receive points for the third criterion, businesses could have new hire training that clearly states nondiscrimination policies include gender identity and sexual orientation, provide supervisor training on gender identity and sexual orientation, have supportive restroom, dress code and documentation guidance, have marketing or advertising to LGBTQ consumers and show philanthropic support of at least one LGBTQ organization or event, among other criteria.

The fourth criterion, responsible citizenship, means businesses could have points deducted from their score or "a large-scale official or public anti-LGBTQ blemish on their recent records." 

The Florida-based businesses that earned a score of 100 on HRC's Corporate Equality Index:

  • Akerman LLP, Miami
  • Black Knight Inc., Jacksonville
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Jacksonville
  • Carlton Field P.A., Tampa
  • Carnival Corp., Miami
  • Citrix Systems Inc., Fort Lauderdale
  • Fidelity National Information Systems Inc., Jacksonville
  • Hertz Global Holdings Inc., Estero
  • Holland & Knight LLP, Brandon
  • L3 Harris Technologies, Melbourne
  • Office Depot Inc., Boca Raton
  • Raymond James Financial, St. Petersburg
  • Restaurant Brands International, Miami
  • Royal Caribbean, Miami
  • Seacoast National Bank, Stuart

Several Tampa Bay area businesses made both lists, including Tech Data and Raymond James Financial.

Tech Data, based in Clearwater, has more than 14,000 employees around the world and was sold in November to a private equity firm. The company was the main sponsor of 2019's St. Pete Pride Parade.

Raymond James Financial is based in St. Petersburg and first made the Fortune 500 list in 2016. The company has also been on HRC's Corporate Equality Index since 2008. 

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