← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Centinel
Thread ID: 9320 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2003-08-27
2003-08-27 01:57 | User Profile
From The Associated Press, available online at: [url=http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0826gaycorps26.html]http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/b...gaycorps26.html[/url]
Offices more gay-friendly
Survey finds big companies making strides
Associated Press Aug. 26, 2003 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - More large U.S. companies are providing better working conditions for their gay and lesbian employees, according to a report released Monday by a gay rights advocacy group.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation reported workplace improvements at about a third of the companies rated in the group's second annual poll of large corporations.
Companies were scored on seven factors, including whether they offered health insurance coverage to employees' same-sex partners and whether they had non-discrimination policies covering sexual orientation and gender identity.
Airlines, banking and financial services, high-tech and equipment manufacturers and telecommunications businesses consistently scored above average.
The report looked at 250 companies from the Fortune 500 and Forbes 200 lists. It gave perfect scores to 21 companies, up from 11 last year.
No company received a score of zero. Last year three companies did.
The study found that 64 percent of Fortune 500 companies include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies. Seventy-one percent of the companies surveyed advertised to the gay community, up from 61 percent in 2002.
"Corporate America has been leading the way around equal treatment for gay and lesbian people for some time so it's not surprising that we would continue to see improvement," said Kim I. Mills, the group's education director.
Mills said that while "successful businesses are increasingly recognizing that equality works," most companies can do more.
Businesses lagging in policies that encourage fair treatment include hotels, resorts and casinos; mail and freight delivery companies; and retail and consumer products firms, the group said. Companies in these industries generally rated below average.
Other factors the group looked at: whether companies included sexual orientation in diversity training, whether they supported a gay employee resources group, whether their marketing was respectful and appropriate to sexual minorities, and whether they take corporate action that undermines the goal of equal rights for gay workers.
2003-08-27 02:14 | User Profile
Big companies want to make money and it's more costly to offend homosexuals and their liberal supporters than it is to offend ignorant Christians and neocon scum.
Ignororant Christians are too busy "loving" the sinner to stand up for what is right. And, neocons are too busy waving the flag to bother themselves with standing up for what is right. Their nominal opposition to homosexual behavior is worthless.
2003-08-27 02:18 | User Profile
Centinel,
**"Corporate America has been leading the way around equal treatment for gay and lesbian people for some time so it's not surprising that we would continue to see improvement," said Kim I. Mills, the group's education director. **
No surprise here. Anything that our multinationals can do to further wreck this country for short term profit they will do. I wonder how much corporate welfare they get for this nonsense.
Come to think of it, I'd like to see just who made the list.
2003-08-28 18:18 | User Profile
It is most disturbing to see corporations take on the role of both government and church. There is still much debate as to the validity and acceptance of homosexuality in both religous and secular circles. This act by corporate America shows the growing power of multinational corporations, as they make the decision of government and church without consulting either. Is there any type of control at all over corporations, and is this really free market at work when it assumes the role of church and government in making decisions they are supposed to make? In accepting homosexuality and providing health care benefits for same sex couples, corporations have jumped the gun in answering the homosexual question in the affirmative. Regardless of whether they were right or wrong, it cannot bode well that a corporation is making these types of decisions on its own.