Research Studies

"Corporate Equality Index 2002"

No authors cited
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, August 2002.

This study from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation reports that the majority of American corporations accept the basic principles of non-discrimination and domestic partner benefits for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered employees. However, the study also argues that a company's “commitment to full equality cannot be considered complete if they are not ‘walking the talk’ by regularly training all staff in what these policies mean and by becoming full participants in the quest for civil rights through corporate giving and/or respectful, appropriate marketing and advertising.”
The study examined the performance of 319 employers on a scale of 0 to 100 regarding seven equality principles:

1. Has a written non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation in its employee handbook or manual.
2. Has a written non-discrimination policy covering gender identity and/or expression in its employee handbook or manual.
3. Offers health insurance coverage to employees’ same-sex domestic partners.
4. Officially recognizes and supports a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employee resource group or council or has a company policy that gives employee groups equal standing regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
5. Offers diversity training that includes sexual orientation and/or gender expression in the workplace.
6. Engages in respectful and appropriate marketing to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and/or provides support through its corporate foundation or otherwise to LGBT or AIDS-related organizations or events.
7. Engages in corporate action that would undermine the goal of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Only 4 percent of the companies surveyed rated a perfect 100 percent, while only 1 percent received marks of 0 percent. The median for all companies was a 57 percent score which was exceed by the financial services (71 percent), high tech (79 percent) and consulting (86 percent) industries. Engineering and construction; food, beverage and grocery enterprises; and retail and consumer products scored well below the median for the study. Geographically, North Carolina and Colorado had the highest rating at 86 percent, while companies surveyed in Arkansas (22 percent), Tennessee (29 percent) and Missouri (29 percent) did a particularly poor job in their treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered employees.

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