Corporate America Backs Gay Rights

From an article of the same name by Marc Gunther from Fortune/CNNMoney.com:

This spring, shareholders at such big companies as ExxonMobil, Ford and American Express are voting on whether gay and lesbian people deserve protection against discrimination in the workplace. But even as battles over gay rights flare up in the corporate world, there's no doubt about who's winning the war. More than 80 percent of companies in the Fortune 500 now ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Some 249 of the Fortune 500 offer health and other benefits to the same-sex partners of their employees. That's up from just 28 a decade ago. Last year, Wal-Mart, America's biggest employer, agreed to support a network for its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) workers, joining such firms as Citigroup, DuPont and IBM. All these trends are moving in one direction - towards more rights for gay and lesbian people. This is remarkable, given the setbacks that gay rights have taken in the political arena, especially around the issue of gay marriage... For the past four years, the Human Rights Campaign has ranked big companies on gay rights issues. It looks at non-discrimination policies, domestic partner benefits, advertising in gay media, philanthropy and support for gay employee groups. This year, 101 companies received the highest possible 100 percent rating - up from 56 last year and 13 when the survey was first done in 2002. These firms aren't just on Wall Street or in Hollywood. For the first time, this year's top performers includes oil and gas companies (BP and Chevron), a chemical company (Dow Chemical) and a defense firm (Raytheon)... Why are more companies embracing gay rights? Among other things, they want to attract gay consumers. Gay purchasing power in the U.S. has been estimated at $641 billion a year by one gay-friendly research firm. But consumer power cannot explain why defense contractor Raytheon gets a perfect score from the HRC. (Gays are not a big market for cruise missiles.) There, the issue comes down to attracting and engaging workers. No company wants to make any of its people feel uncomfortable or unwanted.