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San Francisco Proclaims It Is “Open to All”

Businesses and Elected Officials Across San Francisco Pledge to Take a Stand Against Discrimination

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Calla Rongerude, Campaign Manager, Open to All® calla@opentoall.com | 415.205.2420

Clair Farley, Senior Advisor to the Mayor, Executive Director, Office of Transgender Initiatives clair.farley@sfgov.org | 415.671.3071

(San Francisco, March 12, 2019)—Today, the city of San Francisco issued an official proclamation declaring it is an Open to All® city, pledging to welcome everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, age, immigration status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion or disability. Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman announced via an official proclamation that the city was joining the national Open to All® public education campaign. Open to All® unites and galvanizes national leaders in business, civic engagement, and the nonprofit sector to take a stand for the shared American values of fairness and equality—and supports the bedrock principle that when businesses open their doors to the public, they should be Open to All®.

To commemorate the occasion, Mayor Breed and Supervisor Mandelman hosted a kick-off event in Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro District of San Francisco featuring elected officials from across the city, community leaders, and business owners who have signed the Open to All® business pledge.

“San Francisco has a long history of standing united to advance the national dialogue around acceptance, civil rights, and human rights,” said Mayor London N. Breed. “The Open to All® campaign is about reinforcing our values and stating that no matter who you are, where you have come from, or who you love, you are welcome here in San Francisco.”

In addition to Yelp, which debuted an “Open to All” attribute in July 2018, Open to All® includes national business leaders such as Gap Inc., Marriott International Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., and Lyft, as well as nearly 4,000 businesses large and small across the country. Open to All® also includes nonprofit leaders such as the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, MALDEF, the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP-LDF, and the ACLU; and, more than 200 nonprofit members spanning civil rights and racial justice organizations; LGBT equality organizations; health and disability organizations; faith organizations; and more.

“By joining Open to All®, the City of San Francisco is continuing its leadership in diversity and inclusion,” said Open to All® Campaign Manager Calla Rongerude. “Civic and businesses leaders are committing to make residents and visitors alike feel safe and welcome regardless of who they are.”

The Open to All® campaign, in partnership with the City of San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the San Francisco Department of Transgender Initiatives, Mayor London Breed, and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman are calling on businesses across the city to sign the Open to All® business pledge and join the effort. Businesses that take the pledge are featured publicly on the Open to All® website.

“I am proud to say that Paper Tree has always been an ‘Open to All’ business,” said Linda Mihara, owner of Paper Tree, a small business in San Francisco. “Since we opened in 1968, we’ve celebrated the diversity of both Japantown and the Fillmore. For these 50 plus years, we have enjoyed introducing origami to San Francisco and the world—an art form that knows no racial or gender boundaries. We welcome all who visit this wonderful city to come to Japantown and visit Paper Tree, one of San Francisco’s Legacy Businesses!”

Mayor Breed and Supervisor Mandelman joined elected officials across the city to support Open to All®. In addition, Supervisor Mandelman encouraged his fellow supervisors to vote to approve a resolution declaring San Francisco is Open to All® at tonight’s Board of Supervisor’s meeting.

“San Francisco has a proud reputation as a city welcoming to all in search of acceptance, refuge, and opportunity,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. “But even in cities like ours with strong nondiscrimination laws in place, people continue to face hostility in everyday situations. Nobody should have to fear being denied service at a restaurant or a safe ride home just because of who they are. By declaring our city Open to All®, we are sending a strong message that discrimination will not be tolerated here.”

Businesses can join Open to All® and sign the pledge at www.opentoall.com/business-pledge.

Click here or more information about the San Francisco kick-off event. 

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Open to All® Launch National Partnership with Elected Officials and Businesses to Fight Discrimination

November 13, 2018—New York City, NY—In an expansion of a nationwide public education campaign, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Open to All® today announced the launch of a taskforce of elected leaders from around the country, as businesses from all over New York City commit to serving everyone on equal terms, regardless of who they are. Open to All® is a coalition that unites leaders in business, civic engagement, and the non-profit sector across the United States to build support for nondiscrimination and defend the bedrock principle that when businesses open their doors to the public, they should be Open to All®.

Comptroller Stringer also announced that fifteen lawmakers from around the country, including Mayor Libby Schaaf of Oakland and Mayor Catherine Pugh of Baltimore, have joined him in supporting Open to All®. Comptroller Stringer’s taskforce, Local Electeds Against Discrimination (LEAD), is a national network of elected leaders who support Open to All® and are also taking a stand for nondiscrimination protections in their cities and states. The LEAD taskforce brings together local elected officials from across the country to share model nondiscrimination policies, strategies for encouraging businesses to pledge to be Open to All®, and ideas for bringing together local communities to oppose discrimination.

“Diversity is our nation’s greatest asset and putting policies in place to fight discrimination moves us one step closer to becoming a more just, thriving country,” said New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. “We have seen too many instances where people have been turned away because of who they are – it’s discriminatory and it has to end now. That starts with government leaders taking a stand and advocating for policies that reflect our values of inclusion. I’m honored to stand with elected officials across the United States to ensure that businesses in every corner of our nation are open to all.”

By signing the Open to All® Elected Officials Pledge and joining the LEAD Taskforce, lawmakers agree to:

  • Take a stand for nondiscrimination in their city or state and work to create a welcoming and safe environment for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion or disability.
  • Oppose discrimination against individuals or denial of goods or services based on any of these characteristics, and to work to ensure businesses provide all goods and services to everyone on the same terms.

The announcement that New York City is Open to All® is also supported by Gap Inc., which recently signed on to the Open to All® business pledge at over 2,300 Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta, and Intermix stores across the country, spanning all 50 states, including 190 stores in the state of New York. Last month, Gap Inc. joined Yelp, Marriott International Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Lyft, as well as more than 1,500 small businesses and 200 nonprofits, in partnering with Open to All®.

“Open to All® and the work of the LEAD Taskforce is critical in this current environment,” said Open to All® Campaign Manager Calla Rongerude. “We have heard from gay couples who are afraid to stop at restaurants on a cross-country drive, or people of color who are afraid to linger too long over a cup of coffee. People want to know where they will be safe and welcome. Open to All® is very simple. It’s a public declaration that a business will treat people fairly—and a promise that if someone isn’t treated fairly that the business will take that seriously. It’s also a pledge to fight back against discrimination in communities across the United States. We’re inspired to see businesses like Gap Inc. and elected officials like Comptroller Stringer leading the charge and making a commitment to inclusion.”

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The Open to All® coalition is a coalition of over 200 organizations including civil rights and racial justice organizations, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) organizations and community centers, health and advocacy organizations, and faith organizations—plus a rapidly growing number of businesses—that believe in the basic principle that when a business opens its doors to the public, it should be open to everyone, on the same terms. Learn more at www.OpentoAll.com

Gap Inc. Declares its Stores Nationwide as ‘Open to All’

Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, Athleta, and Intermix Pledge to Serve Everyone on the Same Terms

October 4, 2018—Washington, D.C.—Gap Inc. today announced it is signing the Open to All® Business Pledge and urging other business leaders across the nation to add their voices and their businesses to declare they are Open to All® and oppose discrimination. There are over 2,300 Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta, and Intermix stores in the country, spanning all 50 states.

Gap Inc. joins Yelp, Levi Strauss & Co., Lyft, as well as more than 1,500 small businesses and 200 nonprofits, in partnering with Open to All®, a public education campaign focused on the longstanding principles that affirm when a business opens its doors to the public, it should be open to everyone on the same terms. To welcome all customers, Gap Inc. stores will also feature the Open to All® window cling in select stores across America.

“Since our founding nearly 50 years ago, our company values have led the way we run our business. Together, our brands celebrate equality for all in our workplaces and communities globally. Not only does this foster inclusivity, creativity and contribute to a more just world, it also helps us be more competitive in the marketplace and better serve our customers. We’re proud to join the Open to All® coalition and stand with other businesses to welcome all customers to our brands,” said Art Peck, president and chief executive officer at Gap Inc.

Gap Inc. will also post Open to All® signs at its headquarter buildings in San Francisco, New York and Albuquerque, as well as at its distribution centers in California, Ohio, Tennessee and New York. The company has approximately 135,000 employees around the world.

“Gap Inc. has demonstrated a deep commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equality,” said Calla Rongerude, campaign manager of Open to All®. “In a time when many people of color, LGBT people, people of minority faiths, and many others still can’t be sure they won’t be discriminated against when they seek goods or services, it is more important than ever for businesses to affirm inclusive values. Their stores are found in most communities across the country and we’re thrilled to work with Gap Inc., as a leader on this campaign.”

A new poll released earlier this week shows that most Americans support businesses like Gap Inc. that are Open to All®. The Harris Poll®, conducted in conjunction with Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, finds that 75% of Americans believe when a business opens their door to the public, they should be open to all and serve everyone on the same terms. The poll also found that a vast majority of Americans agree that businesses should not be allowed to deny services to people based on their race, ethnicity, or national origin (87%), sex (87%), sexual orientation (81%), gender identity (80%), religion (85%), or disability (88%).

Last month, Gap Inc. was ranked as one of the world’s most diverse and inclusive companies for the second consecutive year in the annual Thomson Reuters Global Diversity and Inclusion Index, which scores companies using environmental, social, and governance metrics. Earlier this year, Gap Inc. was named as the only U.S. retailer to make the 2018 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index and was the first Fortune 500 company to independently validate it pays women and men equally for the same work. In 2017, the company was the first and only apparel company to sign on to a new set of global business standards—led by the United Nations Human Rights office—to promote LGBTQ rights around the world.

Open to All® is one of the most significant public education efforts to date that unites and galvanizes national leaders in business, civic engagement, and the non-profit sector to take a stand for shared American values of fairness and equality.

In addition to the over 1,500 business members, Open to All® includes more than 200 nonprofit members spanning civil rights and racial justice organizations; lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender (LGBT) equality organizations; health and disability organizations; faith organizations; and more. Open to All® members are committed to building awareness and understanding about the importance of nondiscrimination—and to defend the bedrock principle that when businesses open their doors to the public, they should be Open to All®.

Open to All® was originally launched in November 2017. Initially, the campaign was focused on strengthening support for nondiscrimination amid oral arguments in the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Open to All’s business engagement initiative represents a dramatic expansion of that effort, encouraging businesses large and small across the country to publicly and visibly declare that they support nondiscrimination and that they are Open to All®.

Businesses can sign the pledge at http://www.opentoall.com/business-pledge/.

For more information about the Open to All® coalition, or today’s announcement, please visit www.OpenToAll.com.