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---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Monday, September 25, 2000 12:44 PM -0400
From: Anabel Evora <Anabel.Evora@hrc.org>
To: HRC-YOUTH@LISTS.HRC.ORG
Subject: NUMBER OF EMPLOYERS OFFERING DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS JUMPS 
DRAMATICALLY IN ONE YEAR, ACCORDING TO NEW REPORT

_______________________________________________________

NEWS from the
Human Rights Campaign

919 18th Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006
email: hrc@hrc.org
http://www.hrc.org
________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Contact:        David M. Smith
Monday, Sept. 25, 2000  Phone:  (202) 216-1547
          Pager:         (800) 386-5996

NUMBER OF EMPLOYERS OFFERING DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS JUMPS
DRAMATICALLY IN ONE YEAR, ACCORDING TO NEW REPORT

Increasing Number of Policies and Laws Aimed at Treating Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual and Transgendered Workers Equally

WASHINGTON - The number of employers offering domestic partner health
insurance benefits has increased 25 percent since last year, and now
includes more than 100 of the Fortune 500, according to a report
released today by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
         As of August 2000, a total of 3,572 companies, colleges and
universities and states and local governments were offering or had
announced they would offer health insurance coverage to the domestic
partners of their employees, according to "The State of the Workplace
for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Americans." This was up
from 2,856 employers in August 1999.
         Among Fortune 500 companies, the number offering or planning
         to offer DP benefits jumped from 70 in August 1999 to 102 in
August 2000, a 46 percent increase, according to the report.
         "Domestic partner benefits are increasingly becoming a
         standard business practices in corporate America," said Kim
I. Mills, education director of the Human Rights Campaign. "Employers
have discovered that these benefits help attract and keep the best
workers, a critical consideration in the current tight job market."
         Mills oversees HRC WorkNet, the organization's workplace
         project, which has tracked these and related trends since
1995. Its database and other information are accessible at
http://www.hrc.org/worknet. While high-tech remained the leading
         market sector when it comes to DP benefits, several "old
economy" sectors announced the benefits in the past year, according
to the study. On June 8, the Big Three automakers - Ford, General
Motors and DaimlerChrysler - jointly announced with the United Auto
Workers union that they would add domestic partner coverage. The
previous month, Subaru of America had quietly revealed that it would
become the first automaker to cover domestic partners.
          On June 22, Coca-Cola announced it would cover domestic
          partners, joining General Mills and Pillsbury, other new
arrivals from the food-producing market sector. And in October 1999,
Boeing said it would extend the benefits to its non-union employees,
becoming only the second aerospace contractor - after Honeywell - to
do so. Much of the increase in the number of employers implementing
domestic partner benefits can be attributed to San Francisco's equal
benefits law, the study found. The law, which went into effect in
1997, requires that any employer under contract to San Francisco must
offer equal benefits to its employees' domestic partners. The number
of employers complying with San Francisco's law went from 2,168 in
July 1999 to 2,707 in July 2000, the report found. This was also an
increase of 25 percent. Two other cities - Seattle and Los Angeles --
         passed laws similar to San Francisco's in the period covered
by the report. "While these laws are contributing to the spread of DP
         benefits, they are not the sole reason," Mills said. "Most
of the major corporations that added the benefits in the past year -
for example, the Big Three automakers and household names like
Citigroup, Motorola or Prudential - did so for solid business
reasons."
         Other key findings of the report:
*       An increasing number of governments are enacting prohibitions
against job discrimination based on gender identity. Two states -
Minnesota and Iowa - the District of Columbia and 28 cities or
counties protect transgendered or gender-different employees by law
or executive order. *       Most employers that offer domestic
partner benefits offer them to both same-sex and opposite-sex
partners. For those employers where the study had data, 65 percent
offered to same- and opposite-sex partners while only 35 percent
offered to same-sex partners only.
*       The number of cities and counties that prohibit employment
discrimination based on sexual orientation has climbed steadily, from
16 in 1980 to 42 in 1990 to 116 in 2000.
*       An increasing number of state and local governments and
government agencies are providing domestic partner health benefits.
Since August 1999, two states - Connecticut and Washington - added
the benefits for state workers and 12 cities and counties have added
or announced their intention to add them.
*       The higher on the Fortune 500 list a company is, the more
likely it is to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
While 51 percent of the Fortune 500 have such prohibitions, 82
percent of the Fortune 50 do. *       Only one employer is known to
have rescinded domestic partner benefits and a non-discrimination
policy in the period covered by the report. When it merged with Mobil
in December 1999, Exxon discontinued Mobil's non-discrimination
policy covering sexual orientation and closed Mobil's DP benefits
program to any new employees.
         The report was released at a 10 a.m. press conference at the
National Press Club in Washington. HRC Executive Director Elizabeth
Birch was a featured speaker along with Mills.
         The Human Rights Campaign is the nation's largest 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 safe at home, at work and in the community. EDITORS NOTE: Copies
                                                 of "The
State of the Workplace" may be downloaded from HRC's website
(http://www.hrc.org/worknet). Printed copies are available for $5
apiece by contacting hrc@hrc.org or writing: HRC WorkNet, Human
Rights Campaign, 919 18th St., N.W., Washington, DC  20006. A
searchable 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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