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OCR Page 1 of 1491101 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
phone 202 628 4160
HUMAN
fax 202 347 5323
RIGHTS
CAMPAIGN
WorkNet
Non-Discrimination in the Workplace
Introduction: Our Mission
The workplace has rapidly become a catalyst for social change in America. For gays and lesbians on
the job, these changes can be profound. The acceptance of enlightened human resource policies, the
formation of new gay and lesbian employee groups and the adoption of same-sex domestic partner
benefits are some of the most significant ways these changes are measured. While there are
hundreds of corporations, state and local governments and organizations that explicitly prohibit
discrimination on sexual orientation, there are also numerous companies and organizations today -
both large and small - that have implemented domestic partnership benefits (ie. equal benefits, not
special benefits) for their gay and lesbian workers. The imaginative research and advances made by
these business pioneers are a valuable resource and must be shared with others who are working to
secure true equality in the workplace for lesbian and gay people.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is committed to supporting the efforts of corporations,
employee groups and individuals striving to make equal opportunity in the workplace a reality for
all employees. Accordingly, HRC has established itself as an information source on workplace and
corporate issues that touch the lives of lesbian and gay employees. Our objective for the
Workplace Project is to create and distribute gay and lesbian employment information tools to
rapidly expand the knowledge base on these issues and to be a vital and immediately accessible
resource on workplace success stories, policies and opportunities. Our vision is an America where
lesbian and gay people are ensured of their basic equal rights - and can be open, honest and safe at
home, at work, and in the community.
Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation
Beginning in the 1970's with the historic decision reached by corporate giant IBM to adopt a non-
discrimination policy based on sexual orientation, American business has expanded the visibility of
its diverse workforce and made the first steps towards non-discrimination by implementing
employment policies which specifically included lesbians, gays and bisexuals under company Equal
Employment Opportunity (EEO) rules. At the same time, visionary city leaders and state legislators
began to enact similar non-discrimination laws under their jurisdictions beginning with East
Lansing, Michigan in 1972 and the state of Wisconsin in 1982.
Although employment discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is now prohibited in
only nine states,* the District of Columbia, and scores of U.S. cities, there are today hundreds of