Wal-Mart Stores Inc. added insurance coverage for transgender workers this year, joining more than 500 companies taking a bigger role in advancing the rights of LGBT employees in a competitive market for labor.
Companies from Apple to Xerox are pushing to protect employee rights and improve gender equality as some legislative efforts have stalled. In 28 states, it’s still legal to fire a person for being gay, and President-elect Donald Trump has said he will rescind President Obama’s executive orders, some of which aim at workplace diversity.
“Corporate America has risen to the top in terms of being a high-impact influencer” on LGBT rights, said Deena Fidas, director of the workplace equality project at the Human Rights Campaign, the largest advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. “We have corporations going on the record at the federal level, at the judicial level and certainly at the state level speaking out against what we would call anti-LGBT bills.”
The Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, an annual list that indicates how companies are doing on LGBT-friendly policies, will be released this week. Wal-Mart was among a total of 517 companies, the most ever, that earned a perfect score of 100 points, the group said, up from 407 last year. Wal-Mart, which scored 90 points the last two years, has moved up from 40 points in 2011.
Some companies, including Salesforce.com, PayPal Holdings and Dow Chemical, have also started working with LGBT rights advocates on plans to take on expected anti-LGBT legislation at the state level. The group met in San Francisco last month, the companies confirmed, declining further comment on specific states or tactics.
In Texas alone, as many as 50 related bills may be introduced in 2017, said Matthew McTighe, executive director of Freedom for All Americans, who attended the meeting. The Washington D.C.-based organization aims to defeat laws seen as anti-LGBT.
More than 1,000 companies, including Whole Foods Market Inc. and Marriott International Inc. are poised to speak out against Texas laws seen as hostile to LGBT people, said Jessica Shortall, director of the group Texas Competes, which coordinates business response to the laws.
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