By Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, Chief Diversity Officer, IBM
IBM is proud of our long-standing commitment to fostering diversity, acceptance and inclusion. We strongly oppose discrimination of any kind toward anyone. IBM firmly stands by all of our employees and strives to attract, retain and grow the very best and brightest diverse talent to fulfill our company’s purpose — to be essential.
The new symbol of IBM’s commitment to diversity, acceptance and inclusion.
IBM established an equal pay policy for men and women in the 1930’s, and an equal opportunity policy 11 years before the Civil Rights Act became law. We were among the first companies to include sexual orientation as part of our Equal Opportunity policy, and we extended domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian employees in the U.S. almost 20 years ago. And our progress has not stopped. We now offer a variety of benefits in 53 countries to same-gender domestic partners or spouses. This year alone we announced the launch of same-gender partner benefits in 11 countries.
Today, I am proud to introduce a new symbol that will represent IBM’s ongoing push for diversity, acceptance, inclusion and equal opportunity – a rainbow version of our iconic 8-bar logo. The rainbow is recognized worldwide as the symbol of LGBT equality, and we are proud to fuse it with the emblem that has represented our company for more than four decades. This is a demonstration of IBM’s continuing efforts to advance and influence nondiscrimination workplace policies consistent with basic human rights. The logo will be used in conjunction with diversity focused IBM programs and initiatives, and also in our pro-diversity advocacy.
The colors of the IBM rainbow logo design were adopted from the original rainbow colors designed by artist Gilbert Baker and commissioned by civic and cultural icon, Harvey Milk, shortly before his assassination. Baker’s design was created to be a symbol for the gay rights movement. Inspired by the Flag of the Races, Baker’s design consisted of 8 stripes of color, each representing a different aspect of humanity. The design was used for the first rainbow flags that were hand-dyed and debuted at the Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day march held on June 25, 1978.
For nearly its entire history, IBM has been a progressive leader in diversity, advocacy and innovation. We proudly pay tribute to Baker’s original vision in the adaptation of our corporate logo as a way to demonstrate our solidarity, support and continued commitment to the rights of the LGBT community.
(Editor’s Note: the IBM 8-bar logo, developed by graphic design pioneer Paul Rand, was introduced more than 40 years ago. For more on the story behind this iconic symbol, click here.)
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Media Contact:
Adam R. Pratt
Ph: (202) 551-9625
arpratt@us.ibm.com
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