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Working Out
Just Out
evaluates the area’s 10 largest private employers
by Timothy Krause • Photos by Marty Davis
regons unemployment rate still hov-
ers above 8 percent, and many today
worry about keeping their jobs. But
for sexual minority workers, the
states present economic condition
has not eclipsed the struggle for on-the-job equality.
asked questions adapted from the Corporate
Equality Index m aintained by the Human
Rights Campaign. The answers to these seven
questions constitute a baseline to evaluate how
companies treat sexual minority employees (see
chart).
D on’t lie with my enemies. None in this
group say they do anything to undennine the
dignity or worth of sexual minority workers,
such as supporting anti-gay organizations.
To appraise the current employment arena
for sexual minorities in Portland, Just O ut sur
veyed workplace policies among some of the
city’s largest employers. Results illustrate that
although progress is evident, parity often
remains elusive.
Companies for this poll were chosen based
on a list of the area’s 10 largest private-sector
employers published by the Portland Metropoli
tan Cham ber of Commerce. Employers were
How do they
stack up?
K atar
Foundation
Hoottti Pia*
of tho
Northwest
Oregon
Health
Sciencat
University
total
C«T»
U.S.
lank
Safeway
Inc.
Nationally, however, H R C ’s database lists at
least one business that doesn’t meet this defini
tion. CBRL Group, based in Lebanon, Tenn.,
and better known for operating Cracker Barrel
restaurants, flunks the index altogether.
Rate my job— not sexual— performance.
W hen it comes to a written nondiscrimination
policy that includes the words “sexual orienta
tion,” employers again score high, thanks in part
to civil rights assurances offered through city
and county ordinances as well as a statewide
court decision.
Portland and M ultnomah County, for exam
ple, specify “sexual orientation" in civil rights
policies, saying such discrimination poses a
threat to citizens’ health, safety and general wel
fare and “menaces the institutions and founda
tion of our community.” Furthermore, based on
the 1998 Oregon Court of Appeals decision in
Tanner vs. Oregon Health Sciences University,
the Bureau of Labor and Industries accepts com
Legacy
Health
System
Meier
ft Frank
Providence
Health
System
Fred Meyer
Stores
United
Parcel
S a n ta
D o e s n o t a c tiv e ly e n g a g e in a c tio n s
th a t w o u ld u n d e rm in e th e d ig n ity an d
w o rth o f s e x u a l m in o rity e m p lo y e e s .
“
H a s a d o p te d a w ritte n n o n d is c rim in a tio n
p o lic y th a t in c lu d e s th e w o r d s
se x u a l
o rie n ta tio n ."
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O ffe r s d iv e rs ity tra in in g th a t in c lu d e s
d is c u s s io n o f s e x u a l o rie n ta tio n a n d /o r
g e n d e r e x p re s s io n in th e w o rk p la c e .
A d v e r tis e s , s p o n s o rs e v e n ts o r m a k e s
c h a rita b le g ifts to th e s e x u a l m in o ritie s
c o m m u n ity .
»
O ffe r s d o m e s tic p a r tn e r h e a lth
in s u ra n c e b e n e fits .
S u p p o r ts a s e x u a l m in o rity
e m p lo y e e g ro u p .
H a s a d o p te d a w ritte n n o n d is c rim in a tio n
p o lic y th a t in c lu d e s th e w o r d s “g e n d e r
id e n tity " o r " g e n d e r e x p re s s io n ."
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plaints of sexual orientation discrimination from
employees throughout the state.
Take a diversified approach. W hen the
focus shifts to on-thc-joh dialogue about queer
issues, U nited Parcel Service stops delivery.
T he prognosis for Legacy, however, Lx>ks
good. Spokeswoman Q uita Lupfer reports that
the nonprofit health care system recently initi
ated a- new cultural diversity training program
for managers in which the presenter addresses
all groups, including sexual minorities.
Safeway, too, maintains a diversity board,
and spokeswoman Bridget Flanagan says the
Portland division plans to set up a Web site
where all employees can provide input.
Be a good neighbor. N either UPS nor Fred
Meyer reaches out to the sexual minorities
community through advertising, sponsorships
or contributions. But of the rest, some donate to
causes, such as the Oregonians Against Dis
crim ination Luncheon (see sidebar), while o th
ers, including Safeway, supply events with
goods-in-kind.
“Support from the May Foundation and our
departm ent store divisions to AIDS-related
causes across the country totals more than $2
million since our AIDS fund began in 1990,"
Meier &. Frank spokeswoman Cheryl Hansen
says. “Support specifically for gay/leshian/hisexu-
al/transgender causes in the past several years
totals nearly $50,000 nationwide.”
Provide for domestic tranquillity. Accord
ing to H RC’s State of the Workplace 2001, domes
tic partner benefits nationwide have increased
50 percent since 1999. Intel, Kaiser, O H SU and
U.S. Bank all offer health insurance coverage
for employees’ same-sex domestic partners, and
some have for several years.
Many consider this an issue of equitable pay,
and studies show costs to he negligible. But in
hard times, employers might decline to add or
continue benefits they view as only perks,
including pension benefits.
“There are a lot of benefits that employees
are looking for companies to provide,” UPS
spokeswoman Peggy G ardner says. “In the past
year, the benefit we chose to add was a work/life
balance kind of benefit. Same-sex benefits arc
part of our ongoing conversation, hut as of yet,
they are not formally offered through our health
care program.”
O H SU found that providing access to this
coverage was a difficult pill to swallow— the
public nonprofit corporation was forced by a
lawsuit th at now covers public employees
statewide. According to Basic Rights Oregon,
Tanner vs. O H SU confirms that because of the
Oregon C onstitution’s commitment to equal
protections, public employers must offer domes
tic partners of gay men and lesbians access to
health care and other benefits if they offer them
to spouses.
Recognize our strength in numbers. Three
companies— Kaiser, Intel and O H SU — benefit
from input of sexual minority constituency
groups (see sidebars). Although not exactly as
defined here, Just O ut also recognizes efforts by