Business, Labor, and Courts Advance LGBT Rights, but A Long Road Remains: News-Roundup

The AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labor federation, amended its constitution in September, banning discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression. The constitution now states: “To encourage all workers without regard to race, creed, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to share equally in the full benefits of union organization.” Several of the 57 national and international unions representing over 12 million workers had already added this nondiscrimination policy to their own positions. A resolution in support of transgender-inclusive healthcare was not approved but will be reintroduced later.

According to the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies and 90 percent of all large employers it surveyed are offering health insurance and other spousal benefits to same-sex domestic partners of their employees. First-time corporations include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Hormel Foods LLC, and Wendy’s International Inc. A record number of businesses, 61 percent for Fortune 500 and 86 percent of the 737 surveyed companies, also have policies prohibiting discrimination against transgender people.   Time Warner Cable got a perfect score of 100, making it a “Best Place to Work for LGBT Employees”—for a second year.

When Pew Research published “A Survey of LGBT Americans: Attitudes, Experiences, and Values in Changing Times,” it concluded:  “The survey finds that the LGBT population is distinctive in many ways beyond sexual orientation. Compared with the general public, Pew Research LGBT survey respondents are more liberal, more Democratic, less religious, less happy with their lives, and more satisfied with the general direction of the country. On average, they are younger than the general public. Their family incomes are lower, which may be related to their relative youth and the smaller size of their households. They are also more likely to perceive discrimination not just against themselves but also against other groups with a legacy of discrimination.”

The 26 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have come out in support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Last month, the Senate passed the bill by 64-32 votes, but House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) refused to bring the bill to the lower chamber. Other Latino organizations that support ENDA include the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the Trans-Latina Coalition.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has signed legislation that requires all new or renovated city-owned buildings to include gender-neutral bathrooms, updates the city’s antidiscrimination protections to include transgender residents, and sets tax credits for companies with pro-LGBT benefits.

A federal court in New Jersey upheld the state’s new law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBT minors.