On the heels of a failed boycott against the Walt Disney
Company, an anti-gay lobbying group called the American Family
Association has suspended for six months a boycott it called last week
of the Ford Motor Company. The AFA complained that Ford's corporate
policies pledge not to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender employees and that Ford provides equal benefits for all its
employees.
"Today, in six months or in six years, fairness in the workplace is
still good for business," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "Like most
of corporate America, Ford understands that these policies aren't just
the right thing to do, but they're also good for the bottom line.
Fair-minded policies help recruit and retain the best talent while
improving productivity by ensuring that all of their employees can
provide for their families."
On the same day the group announced the boycott suspension, an annual
report released by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation showed that U.S.
businesses are leading the way in granting protections for gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender families through expanded domestic partner
benefits and non-discrimination policies.
The report – The State of the Workplace for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Americans 2004 (www.hrc.org/sotw) – shows:
- at least 8,250 employers provide domestic partnership benefits at the
end of 2004 – a 13 percent increase over last year; - among the Fortune 500, 216 companies provided domestic partner
benefits, a tenfold increase since 1995, when only 21 did so; - non-discrimination policies covering gender identity and expression
continue to rise with a total of 51 Fortune 500 companies including
transgender people in their policies – up 89 percent from 2003 when 27
Fortune 500 companies had the policy; and - 49 of the Fortune 50 companies include sexual orientation in their
non-discrimination policies and 410 companies in the Fortune 500 – or 82
percent – did so at the end of 2004.
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