Sexual Orientation in the Workplace

Advocating for Equality

Polls consistently show that an overwhelming majority of Americans support equal job rights for gay men, lesbians and bisexuals. Fairness is one of our most cherished principles.

Yet only eleven states bar employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, and less than 150 local governments do so. Fewer still protect transgendered workers. In contrast, the private, university and non-profit sectors have taken the lead. Today, over half of the companies in the Fortune 500 (and all but seven of the Fortune 100) include the term “sexual orientation” in their nondiscrimination policies, and about 20% provide domestic partnership benefits to their gay, lesbian and bisexual employees.

What We’re Doing About This Issue

How We Screen
When we consider investing in a company for the first time, Trillium Asset Management considers its reputation regarding fair hiring, and we query companies specifically on their policies affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered workers (e.g., inclusively written nondiscrimination policies, domestic partnership benefits, recognition of LGBT employee groups, etc.). We will avoid investing in companies with egregious, pervasive or longstanding patterns of discriminatory behavior. If problems emerge at a company in which we are already invested, we will engage with management in dialogue to discern how well and how seriously the company is addressing its challenges.

We have taken proactive measures (see below) to persuade companies to implement inclusive nondiscrimination policies and same-sex domestic partnership benefits. Generally, we divest on social grounds only as a last resort if dialogue and shareholder proposals fail to have a positive impact upon corporate behavior.

Dialogue & Shareholder Proposals

Since 1995, through dialogue with corporate managers and the sponsorship of shareholder proposals, Trillium Asset Management has been a leader in pressing corporations to adopt equitable policies for their treatment of gay, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered employees. Our shareholder proposals, sponsored in collaboration with the Equality Project, have spurred several Fortune 500 corporations to implement sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies. In 1996, Trillium Asset Management testified before Congress in support of the federal Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), which would outlaw employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In 2001, Trillium Asset Management is a co-sponsor of a shareholder proposal before ExxonMobil that urges the company to adopt a sexual orientation nondiscrimination proposal. (Prior to the 1999 merger of the two oil giants, Mobil Corporation included “sexual orientation” in its nondiscrimination policy, and extended domestic partnership benefits to its gay and lesbian employees. Post-merger, both policies were rescinded.) Now in its third year before ExxonMobil shareholders, the proposal is also sponsored by the New York City Employee Retirement System, the New York State Common Retirement System, the Human Rights Campaign, and several individual shareholders associated with the Equality Project. Our Action Alert provides a sample letter to send to ExxonMobil, and more ways to support our proposal can be found at the Equality Project’s ExxonMobil campaign page.