United Airlines Inducted as Stonewall Ambassador in Recognition of Ongoing Commitment to LGBTQ+ Community
First public company to receive this honor from Pride Live
NEW YORK, June 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, United Airlines became the first public company to be inducted into Pride Live's Stonewall Ambassador program in recognition of the airline's commitment to LGBTQ+ equality, from being the first U.S. airline to fully recognize domestic partnerships in 1999 to the first U.S. airline to offer non-binary gender options throughout all booking channels earlier this year. The honor took place at Pride Live's Stonewall Day, a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots which also included a live outdoor concert produced by iHeartMedia New York.
United joins fellow Stonewall Ambassadors including new inductees: The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton; Donatella Versace, Chief Artistic Director of Versace; Bozoma Saint John, Chief Marketing Officer of William Morris Endeavor; Conchita WURST, global LGBTQ+ activist and recording artist and Stuart Vevers, Executive Creative Director of Coach, Samira Wiley, activist and actor and current members such as Chelsea Clinton, Laverne Cox, Robbie Rogers, Anna Wintour, Geena Rocero and Cleve Jones, among others.
"At United, we recognize, embrace and celebrate the individualism that make our customers and employees unique. We have long believed it's important to support the LGBTQ+ community by upholding inclusive policies and practices, and are honored to be the first public company recognized as a Stonewall Ambassador from Pride Live along with an extraordinary group of trailblazers," said Jill Kaplan, president of New York / New Jersey for United Airlines, who represented the company at the induction ceremony along with members of EQUAL, United's resource group for LGBTQ+ and ally coworkers. "The United team is committed to doing more than just raising the flag for Pride in June -- we're committed to creating an inclusive work environment for all of our employees regardless of race, color, creed, background, religious belief, origin and/or sexual orientation while contributing to the diverse communities we serve."
"As a social advocacy and community engagement platform for the LGBTQ+ community, Stonewall Day is a day to remember how far we have come and how much work we have left to do to accelerate awareness and eliminate the social intolerance that is profoundly impacting the lives of LGBTQ+ citizens both here and abroad," said Diana Rodriguez, Founder of Pride Live. "We are pleased to welcome United Airlines as a Stonewall Ambassador and grateful for their support of Stonewall Day, which brings multi-generational LGBTQ+ communities and allies together to actively advance the Stonewall legacy and the fight for full LGBTQ+ equality."
Fully inclusive equal employment, workplace benefits and non-discrimination policies are core to United's Working Together culture. United has earned a 100% rating on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index and named Best Place to Work for eight consecutive years. The airline has also been named a Top Company for LGBT Equality by Work Life Matters magazine. In 2018 and 2019, United was named one of the "Best-of-the-Best" corporations for our commitment to diversity and inclusion across all communities by The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) in partnership with the National Business Inclusion Consortium (NBIC) and in May 2019, was honored by DiversityInc with their "DiversityInc Top 50" designation, lauding the airline's leadership in promoting diversity through a diversity-focused talent pipeline and talent development, leadership accountability and a top supplier diversity program.
Every customer. Every flight. Every day.
In 2019, United is focusing more than ever on its commitment to its customers, looking at every aspect of its business to ensure that the carrier keeps customers' best interests at the heart of its service. In addition to today's announcement, United recently announced that luxury skincare line Sunday Riley will make products exclusively for United customers to experience in amenity kits, released a re-imagined version of the most downloaded app in the airline industry, introduced ConnectionSaver, a new tool dedicated to improving the experience for customers connecting from one United flight to the next and made DIRECTV free for every passenger on 211 aircraft, offering more than 100 channels on seat back monitors on more than 30,000 seats.
About United
United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the World." We are more focused than ever on our commitment to customers through a series of innovations and improvements designed to help build a great experience: Every customer. Every flight. Every day. Together, United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,900 flights a day to 355 airports across five continents. In 2018, United and United Express operated more than 1.7 million flights carrying more than 158 million customers. United is proud to have the world's most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 779 mainline aircraft and the airline's United Express carriers operate 569 regional aircraft. United is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter and Instagram or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United's parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL".
SOURCE United Airlines
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