Sprint is better than Nextel, FedEx is beat out by UPS, California Pizza Kitchen is tastier than Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Circuit City fizzles in comparison to Best Buy. These are just a handful of evaluations made in the Human Rights Campaign’s latest publication, Buying For Equality, a new buyers guide that grades corporations on their policies toward the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

This innovative new tool also shows that Dell is a better choice than Gateway, Borders tops both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Coca-Cola is not as good as Pepsi, and Nissan is getting run over by just about every other auto maker.

“LGBT Americans are changing the policies of corporate America at the check-out line,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “With an estimated $610 billion worth of buying power, this guide empowers our community to easily support companies that take a stand for fairness.”

The HRC has been grading corporations since 2002, when it introduced the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI). Now a nationally recognized scorecard, the CEI is a 16-question survey that evaluates a corporation’s policies affecting their GLBT employees, including domestic partner benefits and nondiscrimination policies. It does not evaluate the company’s products or services, but does take into account how it advertises to the GLBT community.

While the results of the CEI have been available since its inception (the 60-page annual report is available to download on their Web site), the new Buying For Equality publication organizes that data into a more consumer-friendly format.

“This is just an easier way for people to use it,” said Jay Smith Brown, HRC director for communication strategies. “It’s all based on the Corporate Equality Index; it’s just broken down into brands and shopping categories. It’s really easy for people to access the data.”

Hundreds of popular American brands are listed in the publication, drawing simple distinctions between products, services and retail outlets that consumers use on a daily basis. Companies are listed as green with an approval rating of 86 percent or higher, yellow with a score of 44 to 85 percent, or red for companies with less than a 43-percent acceptable rating.

This year, a record 101 companies scored a perfect 100 percent on the index. That is more than seven times the number of perfect scores when the index was introduced in 2002. Coors, a company that was once boycotted by the GLBT community, even scored 100 percent.

“It’s really a tool so people can be smart shoppers. They can shop [with] GLBT rights in mind,” Brown said.

The publication highlights companies to avoid, like Exxon Mobil (14 percent rating), Maytag (29 percent rating) and Purina Alpo (29 percent rating). Brown also pointed out several companies with locations in the heart of Hillcrest that have low scores. Radio Shack and Rite Aid are in the red with 29 percent, and Whole Foods is listed in the yellow category with a score of 57 percent.

“It might be a surprise for people in our community that Whole Foods scored so low,” he said. “Whole Foods has this image of being a very progressive company, but they are very close to being in the red.”

The HRC uses a statistic from a Witeck-Combs Communications and Harris Interactive survey stating that 77 percent of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are very or extremely likely to consider a brand that is known to provide equal workplace benefits for gay and lesbian employees. The new Buying For Equality booklet is not calling for a boycott of companies with unacceptable ratings, nor does it advocate shopping at the approved companies; yet the HRC is asking consumers to shop smarter.

“It’s not a boycott. We always feel there is room for improvement,” Brown said, adding, “It’s a way of telling people to think twice about it before buying one of those products and support a company that is doing more for their employees.”

Solmonese said: “Ensuring equality for all employees on the job is good for the bottom line, and corporate America is responding in historic numbers. We are using our collective purchasing power to continue to influence change.”

To read the entire list of companies and brands, visit www.hrc.org. You can view Buying For Equality online or download a PDF file of the buyers guide.