米：同性愛者に優しい企業が急増～2002年の10倍

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更新2006年09月20日 18:44米国東部時間
同性愛者に優しい企業が急増～2002年の10倍

　同性愛者が働きやすい職場環境の実現に努める米国企業が最高水準を記録したことが、同性愛者擁護団体「ヒューマン・ライツ・キャンペーン」の調査で分かった。

　ロイター通信によると、同団体が作成した平等指数を使って企業を調査した結果、国内の138社が100％を記録した。昨年に100％を獲得したのは101社で、2002年は13社だった。

　指数が高い企業は、同性パートナーへの医療保険や家族休暇の保証のほか、同性愛者や性転換した従業員への差別を禁止している。

　同団体の職場事業を統括するダリル・ハーシャフト氏は、「従業員や家族に対して包括的な職場政策を導入するだけでなく、迅速化と周知徹底を進める企業が増えている」と評価する。

　調査を始めた2002年から高得点を維持している企業には、IBMやシティグループ、JPモルガン・チェイス、リーバイス、ナイキなどが含まれる。

　一方、エクソンモービル、中西部の小売り大手メイジャー、ハイテク系コンサルティング会社ペローは０％だった。

　同調査によると、ゲイおよびレズビアンは年間6410億ドルを消費に費やし、ブランドへの忠誠心が高く、可処分所得も高いほか、職場政策への関心が高い。

　同団体は、フォーチュン1000社およびスタンダード＆プアーズ（S&P）500社など計1520社を対象に調査し、446社をランク付けした。

Out at work, and that's OK
Corporations offer greater support for gay, lesbian employees, report finds
- Wyatt Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Major U.S. corporations have dramatically increased their support of gay and lesbian employees over the past five years, according to a report released by a gay rights organization Tuesday.

The annual report rates how corporations treat gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees based on domestic partner benefits, discrimination policies, advertising and marketing, and other categories. A total of 138 businesses received perfect scores, up from 13 in the first report in 2002.

This year, the report added measures for support of transgender employees.

"I think what is really significant is that we raised the bar in terms of what we asked of corporations, and the number of perfect scores went up to an unprecedented place," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the Washington group that created the report.

Statewide, 27 companies scored 100 percent, with the Bay Area home to all but two. Bay Area companies earning perfect scores include most major Silicon Valley tech firms, Charles Schwab Corp., Kaiser Permanente, Levi Strauss & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

San Ramon's Chevron Corp. earned a perfect score for the second year in a row, and its handbook for negotiating transgender issues was cited as a model for other companies.

"When we were looking at adding gender identity to nondiscrimination policies, one of the key elements was not to just drop the words in the policy but to do the planning around it," said Mike Craig, president of Chevron's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employee network, which has about 500 members.

Nationwide, three companies scored a ranking of zero: the grocery chain Meijer Inc, Perot Systems and Exxon Mobil Corp.

The Human Rights Campaign sent surveys to 1,520 of the nation's largest companies and received responses from 446.

Industries with the highest average ratings include aerospace and defense; tobacco; law firms; hotels, resorts and casinos; and banking and financial services.

Diversity training

As part of the new attention to transgender issues, companies were surveyed on whether they held diversity training on gender identity, had gender transition guidelines for such issues as bathroom use, and whether they offered at least one medical benefit for people changing genders. The number of companies in the report that included gender identity in antidiscrimination policies increased 75 percent over the past year to 203.

"That's the first step to equalizing benefits and policies for transgender employees," said Daryl Herrschaft, director of the workplace project for the Human Rights Campaign.

Companies were not rated on whether health plans covered the cost of gender change, a decision made by insurance companies.

Employer support for gay rights is spreading from office and professional environments to blue-collar workplaces, according to Rickie Banning, a former board member of the Society for Human Resources Management's diversity committee. Banning, who runs a human resources consulting firm in Boston, has mediated several hostile conflicts between employees on these issues.

"It started with companies like Microsoft and it's the second- and third-tier companies getting there," she said.

Opposition persists

Corporate support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights is not without opposition, though. Ford Motor Co., which received a perfect score in the report, is facing a boycott from a host of conservative Christian organizations because it advertises in gay and lesbian publications.

Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian advocacy group, pulled all its money from Wells Fargo accounts last December because the bank donated money to a gay rights organization.



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Online resource
For a copy of the Human Rights Campaign report, go to http://hrc.org/cei.



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Perfect score
The Bay Area is home to 25 companies that scored 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign's tally of how major U.S. corporations treat their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees:

Adobe Systems Inc.

Agilent Technologies Inc.

Apple Computer Inc.

California State Automobile Assn.

Charles Schwab Corp.

Chevron Corp.

Cisco Systems Inc.

Clorox Co.

Gap Inc.

Google Inc.

Heller Ehrman LLP

Hewlett-Packard Co.

Intel Corp.

Intuit Inc.

Kaiser Permanente

Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group

Levi Strauss & Co.

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

PG&E Corp.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

Sun Microsystems Inc.

Olivia Cos. LLC

Visa International

Wells Fargo & Co.

E-mail Wyatt Buchanan at wbuchanan@sfchronicle.com.

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