Two LGBT candidates face off in the Alabama elections, and tech companies in California were ranked as the Top 10 environments for LGBT workers.

Two LGBT Candidates Battle for House Seat

Democratic candidate Brit Blalock, who goes by “she” and “they” pronouns, will be facing off for the Alabama District 54 this November. The current representative is Neil Rafferty, Alabama’s only LGBT lawmaker.

Before taking to Facebook to announce her run, Blalock said she reached out to Rafferty to tell him the news in person.

“I wanted it to make things clear to him that I wasn’t running to run against him, that these are things I’ve been mulling for many years, and this felt like the right time for me,” Blalock told NBC News.

Blalock added that Rafferty said it would be “wrong” of her to run. In an emailed statement, he did not directly acknowledge Blalock’s claim.

“I would never discourage an LGBTQ person from running for office, because it is antithetical to my core beliefs and vision for the future of our movement,” he said in an email. “Initially, I hoped the redistricting process would allow for us to run in separate districts so that we would have a chance to double LGBTQ representation in the state Legislature.”

Tech Companies Rank Top 10 as Happiest Work Environments for LGBT People

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In a study published by Glassdoor May 24, it showed that Google (#1), Microsoft (#2), IBM (#8), and Apple (#10) ranked in the Top 10 with the highest Glassdoor ratings for LGBT workers.

“The tech industry in general earned the second-best average industry rating for LGBTQ+ employees, yet LGBTQ+ workers have relatively low representation in tech,” according to the Protocol. “LGBTQ+ workers represent just 11% of Glassdoor reviews in the tech industry, compared to 23.1% in restaurants, 19% in personal consumer services and 18.3% in nonprofits.”  

Where LGBT employees differed in rating from cisgender employees ratings was IBM receiving four out of five stars from LGBT employees while cisgender gave them 3.89 out of five stars.

The study shows that Apple and Microsoft did not rank higher amongst LGBT employees compared to its cis-gendered ones.

“Many companies still have progress to make when it comes to improving the workplace experiences of their LGBTQ+ employees,” Jacob Little, Glassdoor’s head of People Experience and Diversity & Inclusion, said in the report.