Written by John Kell

The nation's largest food and beverage manufacturers—including PepsiCo, Kellogg and General Mills—are winning high marks for recognizing their LGBTQ work force and adopting inclusive policies for those employees. That was the finding of a new report by the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group.

The report evaluated 1,043 companies based on whether they have inclusive benefits and protections that promote equality for LGBTQ employees, and it found that large consumer product firms score particularly well. Of the 517 U.S. companies that earned 100-point scores, 72 were from the food, beverage and grocery sector.

The HRC report says that more than 90% of the rated businesses have embraced sexual orientation and gender identity employment protections for their U.S. and global operations. A majority of the businesses (86%) offer education and training programs that include definitions and/or scenarios on gender identity in the workplace, while almost 400 businesses have also adopted guidelines for gender transition.

The report said the total number of employers with a top rating for the 2017 index was the largest jump in top-rated businesses in a single year since in the 15-year history of tracking done by the HRC. READ MORE