WASHINGTON (AP) - Most major U.S. companies have policies prohibiting discrimination against gays and lesbians, and more than two-thirds offer health benefits to same-sex domestic partners, an advocacy group said Tuesday.
The Human Rights Campaign, which advocates on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, released its first survey of large corporations.
The group surveyed 319 companies, each of which employ at least 500 people. It found 92 percent of the companies had written statements barring discrimination because of sexual orientation, and 69 percent offered health insurance benefits for same-sex partners of employees.
The federal government, on the other hand, does not offer the same benefits to domestic partners that are given to spouses. Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., have introduced legislation to provide benefits to unmarried partners, either of the same sex or of opposite sexes.
Eleven states - California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin - as well as the District of Columbia ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Human Rights Campaign. Eight states - California, Connecticut, Maine, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington - and the District of Columbia offer health insurance benefits to partners of state employees, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
"The truth is it's corporate America that has been the unlikely hero in the movement for equality for gay and lesbian Americans," said Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign.
Birch said she was not surprised at the results, saying they were the results of a decade's worth of efforts to end discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Companies also were rated on whether they had policies prohibiting discrimination against gender identity and whether they participated in any efforts opposing equal rights for gays and lesbians.
"Most successful companies know discrimination is bad for business," said Kim Mills, the group's education director.
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