Tag: equality

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Exxon Mobil hits new low in LGBT history

The Texas-based company, which is No. 2 on the Fortune 500 and has more than 80,000 employees worldwide, last week became the first business to ever receive a negative score on the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index.

Exxon Mobil failed to meet any of the criteria for the 2012 Index, and had points deducted for engaging in activities that undermine LGBT equality. As a result, the company received a score of minus-25 from HRC.

Before Exxon and Mobil merged in 1999, Mobil offered domestic partnership benefits and had an employment nondiscrimination policy that included sexual orientation. However, ExxonMobil did away with both the benefits and the policy after the merger, and has repeatedly resisted shareholder efforts to amend the policy to protect gay employees.

The 2012 Index marks the first year HRC has handed out negative scores, and Exxon Mobil was the only company to receive one.

“For over a decade, HRC has urged Exxon Mobil to re-evaluate its employment practices and policies regarding LGBT employees,” HRC spokesman Paul Guequierre said. “They continue to give us, and the entire LGBT community, the cold shoulder.”

Exxon Mobil was one of three companies to receive the 25-point deduction for undermining LGBT equality on the 2012 Index. The other two were New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. and Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner LLP.
(via Dallas Voice)

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Orlando approves domestic registry in unanimous vote

The city that is host to “the happiest place on earth” just got a little happier.

From the Orlando Sentinel: Orlando’s gay community celebrated Monday as the city became the first in Central Florida to recognize the relationships of same-sex couples.

The City Council voted unanimously to enact a domestic partnership registry, a measure that stops short of marriage but does grant gay couples some of the same rights. On a symbolic level, the official recognition is just as important as the legal rights that come with it, supporters said.

“This is an historic event for Orlando, and it is a monumentally important event for our community. It will be the first time in our lives that our families are recognized by our government,” said attorney Mary Meeks, who helped push for the registry. “At least here in Orlando, our relationships are recognized as real, and they are valued and they are accepted.”

Once the registry opens on Jan. 12, unmarried couples — whether gay or straight — will be able to record their relationship in a government database for a $30 fee.

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Film: “Legalize Gay”

A new generation is leading the campaign for LGBT equality, often in parts of the country hostile to gay and lesbian rights. “Legalize Gay” captures the courage and passion of these young activists, gay and straight, who are determined to close the deal on full equality for the LBGT community. A film by Christopher Hines.

With appearances by:
• Hudson Taylor, the college wrestler turned LGBT advocate
• Daniel Hernandez, who gained notoriety when he aided Rep. Gabbie Giffords after she was shot in Tucson
• Claire Buffie, Miss New York, the first contestant in Miss America’s history to make LGBT equality her platform
• Brian Sims, the first openly gay college football captain who is now looking to make history again in his bid for a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
• Ben Cohen, the rugby star turned LGBT advocate and founder of the StandUp Foundation
and many others

The film is slated to premiere on Logo next year, but the director has joined with the organization Campus Pride for exclusive advanced screenings, accompanied by an educational guide to encourage activism in the campaign for LGBT equality.

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House, Senate lawmakers introduce federal domestic partner benefits bill

U.S. Senators Joseph Lieberman and Susan Collins on Friday reintroduced the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, and said that approving the bill would put the federal government on par with Fortune 500 corporations that already extend full benefits to same-sex partners of gay and lesbian employees.

The companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives was introduced by Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.).

Under the bill, a federal employee and same-sex domestic partner, who are not related by blood and are living together in a committed intimate relationship, would be eligible to participate in federal retirement, life insurance, health, workers’ compensation, and Family and Medical Leave benefits to the same extent as married employees and their spouses.

More at LGBTQnation

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American Airlines welcomes Out & Equal Summit to DFW

Today, as a Titanium Sponsor of the event, American Airlines welcomed the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) professional conference, the 2011 Out & Equal Workplace Summit. Organizers of the Summit report they will host more than 2,500 business leaders from more than 26 nations and more than 250 major corporations.

American Airlines partners frequently with diverse multicultural organizations and business gatherings including the LGBT community. The company has consistently earned a 100 percent score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index

American Airlines is also pleased to formally announce that 2011 will be the first year to include employee health benefit enhancements for gender reassignment procedures, as well as ensuring that same-sex domestic partners are included under Family and Medical Leaves of Absence.
Via press release

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Online interactive LGBT equality map

Movement Advancement Project’s Equality Maps provide quick and easy summaries of laws that affect LGBT Americans on a state-by-state and issue-by-issue basis.

Click here to see the map.

The maps present information on laws in areas from employment discrimination and relationship recognition to hate crimes protections and anti-bullying laws.
(via joemygod)

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Dolly Parton issues apology to couple for Dollywood insensitivity

Olivier Odom and her partner Jennifer Tipton were entering the Dollywood park with their family on July 9 when a park worker asked Odom to turn her shirt inside out. The words “Marriage is so gay” were printed on the shirt, in support of gay marriage. When she asked why she needed to turn the shirt inside out, the park worker told Odom that Dollywood is a “family park.”

Odom complied, but wrote a letter to Dollywood later asking the park to “implement policies that are “inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people” and “inclusive of all families.” She also stated that she felt Dollywood’s policy regarding clothing or tattoos should be more clearly spelled out.

Reps for Dollywood issued a statement in response to the news, assuring the LGBT community that everyone was welcome at Dollywood properties. Dolly Parton has released a statement to ABC News apologizing for the incident. The statement reads:

“I am truly sorry for the hurt or embarrassment regarding the gay and lesbian t-shirt incident at Dollywood’s Splash Country recently. Everyone knows of my personal support of the gay and lesbian community. Dollywood is a family park and all families are welcome.” Dolly adds that the policies on clothing or signs with profanity or controversial messages are in place to protect the person wearing the shirt and keep disturbances at the park to a minimum. Dolly concludes saying, “I am looking further into the incident and hope and believe it was more policy than insensitivity. I am very sorry it happened at all.”

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NY marriage equality good for business

Excellent opinion piece on CNN by Bob Witeck on the economic upside marriage equality will bring to New York state.

Witeck points to the fact that to attract the brightest and the best – which includes same-sex couples – you have to offer strong and equal benefits.

New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, and city leaders must be cheering the economic shot in the arm as hotels, restaurants, caterers, florists and legions of vendors welcome the wedding and honeymoon brigades. Some estimate nearly $400 million in revenues for the state over the next three years.

These rewards are also the result of changing tides among American corporations and employers over recent decades. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s same-sex marriage legislation was endorsed not only by major corporations like Xerox and Google but by scores of smaller business owners across the state.

78% of all LGBT adults said that they would prefer jobs in states that recognize marriage equality.

The Williams Institute, an LGBT-related think-tank at the University of California, estimates $155 million will roll into the Empire state economy in the first year of marriage equality alone.

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Gov. Brown signs CA FAIR Education Act

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that will fairly and accurately portray the LGBT civil rights movement and the historic contributions of the diverse LGBT community in social science instruction.

The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act (SB 48), by including fair and accurate information about the rich and diverse history of LGBT people in instructional materials, will enrich the learning experiences of all students and promote an atmosphere of safety and respect in California schools.

SB 48 was authored by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and co-sponsored by Equality California and Gay-Straight Alliance Network.

Studies have shown that inclusion of LGBT people in instructional materials is linked to greater student safety and lower rates of bullying.

In schools where the contributions of the LGBT community are included in educational instruction, bullying declined by over half and LGBT students were more likely to feel they have an opportunity to make positive contributions at school.

“Today marks a monumental victory for the LGBT civil rights movement as the contributions of diverse LGBT community will no longer be erased from history,” said Roland Palencia, Equality California executive director. “Thanks to the FAIR Education Act, California students, particularly LGBT youth, will find new hope and inspiration and experience a more welcoming learning environment that will embrace them.

Read more here.

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Chile: Civil Unions bill on the way

From the Advocate: Chilean newspaper La Tercera reported today that the nation’s government is considering legislation that would legally recognize same-sex civil unions.

According to the Santiago-based paper, the bill — which could be presented to Congress as early as next week — would “grant legal rights to gay couples who have lived together for more than one year.”

Despite the heated debate the issue has caused in the predominantly Catholic country, last month Chilean president Sebastian Pinera was quoted by the newspaper El Mercurio as saying he wanted to safeguard “the dignity of those couples, whether of the opposite or even the same sex.”

If the legislation passes, Chile will be the fifth South American country to legalize same-sex civil unions, joining Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Uruguay. Argentina offers marriage rights to gay couples.