5 questions for Martina Navratilova about investing in LGBTQ equality

In a new episode of the Financial Planning Podcast, tennis legend Martina Navratilova explains a new method for investing in LGBTQ equality.

LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings

The winner of 59 Grand Slam titles is a board member of LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings, a financial research firm and impact investment product company that launched the LGBTQ + ESG100 ETF earlier this year with the ticker symbol of LGBT. The founding CEO of the company is Bobby Blair, a former professional tennis player in his own right and a successful entrepreneur. The company’s product uses its proprietary ESG screen of public equities to invest in holdings of firms with large market capitalizations that meet a four-pronged criteria designed with an eye toward LGBTQ civil rights and supportive workforces.

In the podcast, FP Chief Correspondent Tobias Salinger asked Blair and Navratilova the following five questions:

1. How did LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings come to be? Where did the idea come from, and how did it get off the ground?

2. Let me ask you about the ETF. Now it has four pillars as a large cap growth fund: a brand loyalty and awareness study among LGBTQ Americans, annual corporate equality report data, an annual review for ESG screens and company performance measures. The stocks that currently receive the five largest weights in the criteria currently are: Tesla, ServiceNow, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. It has an expense ratio of 75 basis points. What are the kinds of policies and practices that you hope to encourage companies to embrace through this product, and how would you describe the prospective investor you’re hoping to reach with it?

LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings

3. I’ve spoken with financial advisors who are experts in ESG criteria and socially responsible investing, and they describe something of a catch-22 with impact funds. Often large wealth managers’ due diligence policies won’t allow funds to gain access to the companies’ platforms unless they have attracted a certain number of assets. But they can’t reach that level of assets without getting access to the platforms. What is LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings’ plan for distribution when there are so many funds out there and it can be such a challenging business?

4. We saw thousands of people marching in the streets of Budapest last month on Pride Day in protest of a new law in Hungary forbidding the display or dissemmination to minors of any media that depicts homosexuality or sex reassignment. The law is part of an anti-pedophila measure that Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government says is protecting children. How do you think companies should respond to this law, and how does LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings respond when countries pass a discriminatory law like this?

5. The Olympics are over after another thrilling event featuring athletes from all over the world making outstanding achievements. What was your favorite moment of the Tokyo 2020 games?

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