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San Francisco Law Accelerates Trend, Causing Domino Effect in New
Market Sectors, HRC Asserts
WASHINGTON One of the most stunning gains for gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgendered workers in the 1990s has been the rapid spread of
domestic partner benefits, according to a report released today by the
Human Rights Campaign. At the beginning of the decade, fewer than two
dozen employers offered these benefits. Currently, more than 2,800
private companies, colleges and universities and state and local
governments offer domestic partner health coverage.
The report, "The State of the Workplace for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgendered Workers," found that much of the rapid spread of this
benefit in the last two years can be attributed to San Francisco's
Equal Benefits Ordinance. That law, which went into effect in 1997, is
directly responsible for 2,168 of the 2,855 employers offering these
benefits that have been tracked by HRC.
"A steadily increasing number of American workplaces had been adding
domestic partner insurance coverage to their benefits packages through
the second half of the decade," according to Kim I. Mills, HRC's
education director and principal author of the report. "Even without
the San Francisco law, we were seeing an average of two employers a
week instituting domestic partner coverage, up from one a week in the
first half of the 1990s. The San Francisco law has led to a rapid
acceleration of this trend, and a domino effect across market sectors
and industries."
The San Francisco law mandates that any company doing business with the
city or county of San Francisco must offer the same benefits to the
domestic partners of its employees that it offers to employees' legal
spouses.
For example, the report found that the San Francisco law was directly
responsible for the spread of DP benefits in the oil industry. First,
Chevron--which is based in San Francisco--instituted the benefits. It
was quickly followed by Shell, BP Amoco and Mobil, according to the
report. Likewise, the recent announcement of DP benefits by United
Airlines was a direct result of the San Francisco law, and within a
week, American Airlines and U.S. Airways had revealed they would be
instituting domestic partner coverage as well.
In addition, the report found municipal governments across the country
beginning to offer DP benefits to their workers. Six states, seven
local government entities (such as libraries and utility commissions)
and 60 city and county governments offer domestic partner health
benefits. In 1998, at least eight state or local governments instituted
domestic partner benefits for public employees: Eugene, Ore.; Key West,
Fla.; New York City; Philadelphia; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Vancouver,
Wash.; Westchester County, N.Y. ; and the state of Oregon.
To date in 1999, at least eight additional governments instituted DP
benefits for their employees: Gresham, Ore.; Petaluma, Calif.;
Pittsburgh; Tempe, Ariz.; Broward County, Fla.; Cook County, Ill.; Dane
County, Wisc.; state of California (legislative employees only).
However, the report noted, there have been some significant losses in
many of the same arenas where GLBT workers have won gains. "Most
notably, legislative bodies continue to consider almost as many anti-
gay measures as legislation aimed at creating parity for GLBT workers.
Likewise, many courts continue to find that discrimination based on
sexual orientation is perfectly legal in many jurisdictions," the
report states. In 1999, for example, religious political extremists
succeeded in rolling back a comprehensive Maine law that had barred
sexual orientation discrimination in employment, housing and public
accommodations. And at least two well-known anti-gay organizations have
mounted court challenges to municipal domestic partner benefits plans,
with mixed results. Among the report's other findings:
* A total of 1,558 private corporations, colleges and universities,
state and local governments and federal government agencies and
departments that include the term "sexual orientation" in their
non-discrimination policies. Of those, 261 were in the Fortune 500,
up slightly from 251 in 1996 when HRC completed the first survey of
Fortune 500 companies and non-discrimination policies
* At least 279 colleges and universities have implemented non-
discrimination policies that include sexual orientation. These
colleges include 44 of the top 50 national universities and 26 of the
top 40 national liberal arts colleges according to the 1999 U.S. News
and World Report college rankings.
Contrary to the claims of the religious right, domestic partner
benefits are not some "special right" given to gays and lesbians. Based
on HRC's data, more than two-thirds of employers that have implemented
this coverage are also providing it to unmarried opposite-sex couples.
The Human Rights Campaign is the nation's largest national lesbian and
gay political organization with members throughout the country. HRC
effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates
the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest
and safe at home, at work and in the community.
EDITORS NOTE: For a full copy of the report, please contact HRC
WorkNet, HRC's workplace project, at 202/216-1552 or hrc@hrc.org. A
full list of employers with non-discrimination policies and domestic
partner benefits is available on the web at www.hrc.org/worknet.
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