Majority of top businesses offer domestic-partner benefits  | News | Advocate.com

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June 30, 2006
Majority of top businesses offer domestic-partner benefits

A majority of Fortune 500 companies now offer domestic-partner benefits to their LGBT employees, and 86% officially prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. A new report released today in Washington, D.C., by the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group, also shows that 81 of these top companies ban discrimination based on gender identity or expression, a 10-fold increase since 2001.

The annual "State of the Workplace" study by HRC, created by the organization's Workplace Project division, examines both business and political progress on issues affecting LGBT employees. In addition to the gains in corporate America, the study shows that three additional states—Illinois, Maine, and Washington—now prohibit discrimination against gay and transgender people in private-sector employment, while Montana became the 13th state to offer state employees domestic-partner benefits.

"While protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans are stalled in Congress, corporate America continues to surge ahead," HRC president Joe Solmonese, said in a statement. "This isn't a Democratic or a Republican issue. It's an issue of basic fairness and good business."

He added, "An investment in equal benefits is minor to the employer but priceless to employees. By removing barriers to employee success, corporate America is ultimately removing barriers to the success of companies across the nation."

As of June 1, 253 of this year's Fortune 500 companies provided health insurance and other benefits to employees' same-sex domestic partners. That represents 51% of the elite group, the first time a majority has offered such benefits since HRC started keeping track. (The Advocate)

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