New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. and the New York City Pension Funds today called on two dozen major corporations, including ExxonMobil, to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Comptroller’s office says this is nearly twice as many proposals as in the previous proxy season, and the second season in which all new measures include gender identity.
After the ENDA debacle last year, it is refreshing to see gender identity part of a push for widespread employment anti-discrimination measures. Not that federal protections aren’t still necessary, but I think there’s value in taking gains where we can. Bit by bit, we’ll show that equality for the entire LGBT spectrum isn’t something to fear.
Will the Pension Funds’ pressure work? Hard to tell at this point, but according to the press release:
Shareholder support for the proposal has increased in each subsequent year it has been filed: in 2007, it was supported by 37.7 percent of shares voted; in 2006, it was supported by 34.6 percent of shares voted; and in 2005, it was supported by 29.4 percent. . . .
The resolutions build on proposals submitted by the Pension Funds for more than a decade asking dozens of Fortune 500 companies to adopt policies that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
To date, 50 companies have amended their policies to include protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity. During the last proxy season alone, eight companies agreed to adopt explicit prohibitions against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
This year, management at six of the companies has already agreed to adopt the changes, and the Comptroller’s Office has since withdrawn those resolutions.
What’s even more interesting? Besides Thompson, the New York City Pension Funds’ trustees include Mayor Michael Bloomberg, rumored to be considering an independent presidential bid. Will he step up to the plate with a better LGBT-rights platform than the other candidates—and if so, is this the worst thing that could happen to the left, a la Ralph Nader’s bid in the 2000 election? Or will the LGBT community not forgive him for his 2005 decision to appeal a lower court ruling declaring same-sex marriage legal within New York City?