Just as the Sullivan Principles brought investor pressure to bear in South Africa, the Equality Principles for gay recognition, freedoms, and opportunities at the workplace are getting support from large retirement investment funds for expanding equality based on sexual orientation. And it may be none too soon - given the instances of anti-gay discrimination recently revealed at Chrysler.

In the Principle's first time at bat, they scored a hit though not a homer. Responding to the first shareholder resolution seeking adoption of these Principles, Johnson & Johnson has agreed to adopt a written policy banning discrimination against lesbians and gay men for all of its 80,000 employees and to include sexual orientation in its diversity training.

These Principles may be useful in giving organizations in the Hudson Valley specific action areas in which they can both extend equality opportunity and attract a more diverse employee population. Many minority groups use the Principles as "the canary in the mine": if an employer is willing to recognize and encourage gays, it's a good sign that they're serious about equality and diversity. The Equality Principles for Sexual Orientation were developed by the Wall Street Project (WSP), a program of New York's Community Lesbian and Gay Rights Institute (CLGRI). The WSP periodically conducts a census of the Fortune 1000, with over 400 respondents, of which 134 companies have written sexual orientation policies - triple the number in 1990.

What do the principles call for?

1. Explicit prohibitions against discrimination based on sexual orientation will be included in the company's written employment policy statement.
   
2. Discrimination against HIV positive employees or those with AIDS will be strictly prohibited.
   
3. Employee groups regardless of sexual orientation will be given equal standing with other employee associations.
   
4. Diversity training will include sexual orientation issues.
   
5. Spousal benefits will be offered to domestic partners of employees regardless of sexual orientation on an equal basis with those granted to married employees.
   
6. Company advertising policy will bar negative sexual orientation stereotypes and will not discriminate in media advertising on the basis of sexual orientation.
   
7. Companies will not discriminate in the sale and purchase of goods and services on the basis of sexual orientation.
   
8. Written non-discrimination policies on sexual orientation must be disseminated throughout the company. A senior company official will monitor compliance corporate-wide.

The power of the Principles

A strong argument for the Principles is that discrimination in the form of unequal benefits are simply bad business. The internal costs of tolerating discrimination or harassment are high: turnover, turnoff, turndowns, disloyalty, absenteeism, inefficiency, apathy, and unrest. Dissatisfaction is making more people now willing to launch costly lawsuits against anti-gay and HIV discriminatory measures. Discrimination keeps the corporate focus inward; yet today's world demands that a company carefully monitor and serve its marketplace. External costs may be even higher, depending on the importance of gays & lesbians in the company's markets, image, and sales.

Like the Sullivan Principles these statements give a concrete agenda for employees to spearhead action as corporate stakeholders - investors, pension fund managers, regulators, directors, employees, customers, suppliers, and community residents.

The principles give workplace rights the deterrent power of the shareholder resolution since most employers change to avoid possible litigation. For progressive companies they give a blueprint of what to do. They give employees a reason to start asking for action."

The J&J story How did the Principles succeed? A Boston investment firm, the Franklin Research & Development Corporation, a leader in the field of socially and environmentally responsible investment management, first approached J&J while the Principles were made public in mid-1995. After months of unsuccessful dialogue Franklin filed a shareholder resolution. In response J&J asked the SEC, which regulates shareholder proposals, for permission to exclude the resolution from its ballot.

Franklin's strong counter response to J&J's challenge at the SEC, J&J's plans to market a home-HIV test and several AIDS/HIV drugs, and the endorsement of one of J&J's largest shareholders, Controller Allan Hevesi, trustee of the New York City pension funds (the third largest pension fund in the US) may have prompted the company to begin adopting the Principles finally in 1996.

Reports on J&J's track record on sexual orientation are mixed. The Company is head quartered in the State of New Jersey, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Yet only employees at its Raritan facilities have seen written policies prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Meetings between employees in Edison, NJ, and officials of CLGRI had revealed deep-seated fears of coming out at the workplace or in the company-dominated community. J&J's own study of social responsibility discovered that companies that were leaders on social responsibility were also, over time, the profit leaders. Both, the report concluded, were symptoms of good management.

Ironically, because J&J has a strong record on social responsibility, it was a good candidate to set a strong example. Even as far back as 1986, the book Rating America's Corporate Conscience (Steven Lydenberg, Alice Marlin, Sean Strub and the Council on Economic Priorities, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc) documented J&J's responsiveness in product safety, international responsibility, community revitalization, minority economic development, affirmative action, charitable giving, employee health, and employee benefits. J&J's credo with language about respect and security for employees set the stage. (Ironically, the authors were generally laughed at when they raised the idea of gay issues in 1986.) Specifically, J&J has not responded to any surveys on sexual orientation policy & procedure.

Through this negotiation a first has been achieved. While shareholder campaigns like this have been used to good effect on a variety of issues from animal rights to South Africa, never before had these tactics prompted a company to implement more progressive workplace policies for gay employees.

Do employers discriminate?

The problem is real; between 16% and 44% of gay men & lesbians in 20 cities have experienced some form of workplace harassment or discrimination related to their sexual orientation according to a National Gay & Lesbian Task Force study.

In fact, on December 6, 1995, the report of the Hawaiian Commission on Sexual Orientation and the Law identified more than 450 rights and benefits denied gay people when it recommended that the State legislature grant full marriage rights. These benefits range from spousal designations to survivor benefits on pensions.

The personal costs are high. A few examples: gays are harassed, denied employment, passed over for promotion, excluded from networking, and are often downsized.

These are pocket-book issues with often little bottom-line impact. Part of the problem may be that they matter much to gay men & lesbians but little to business. The ironic solution may be that implementing the Principles brings great relief to gays at little cost to employers and that not implementing them can costs employers a great deal.

Why the workplace focus?

Activists are finding that it is often easier to obtain these rights and benefits first at the workplace before laws are passed. For example, a survey by Mellman Lazarus and Lake in February of 1994 showed that 70% of the public already thinks work site discrimination is illegal! A greater percentage believe it is wrong - especially when it has a human face on it at the workplace instead of being an arms-length political issue.

It simply may be more effective to start first where success is most likely: the workplace - and progressive companies like J&J. Economic arguments are often easier to win than political agendas especially in times of political backlash. Workplace rights and benefits often produce more immediate personal payoffs, persuade more people to come out, and establish more pervasive precedent than legislation. Only 9 states and 200 local governments have adopted gay rights laws. In the face of this, working through the workplace seems to be a necessary complement to legislative efforts.

The time may be ripe to apply the new leverage that the Principles hope to mobilize. Gallup polls have consistently found that more than 75% of all Americans support equal rights in the workplace for gay men, lesbians & bisexuals.

Many organizations, especially educational institutions, have adopted sexual orientation non-discrimination policies; roughly forty publicly-traded companies now have domestic partnership benefits. Twenty-three major firms, including AT&T and Bethlehem Steel have now endorsed the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that would ban sexual orientation discrimination nationwide. (Get a copy or summary from your Congressman or the internet.)

In the lean 90s, faced with rapidly changing markets, business appears to be adopting a workforce model based on diversity- in contrast to old personnel philosophies of a "corporate family." Family loyalty is clearly over. A business based on a diverse workforce wants to embrace employee diversity in order to attract increasingly diverse customers, to respond rapidly to widely different market opportunities, and to recruit the talent it needs - whatever its sexual orientation.

Lastly, recent advances in computer technology enable today's corporations to make diversity practical. Employers can increasingly embrace "cafeteria style" benefit programs which can literally tailor benefit choices to individual preferences. Employers no longer have to force individuals into benefits molded around inflexible models of an obsolete family unit organized around a legally married spouse and 2.5 children. This means employees can be individually motivated through benefits and personnel policies tailored to them as real people.

What you can do

Although the J&J negotiation demonstrates the leverage that a shareholder resolution can have with corporate managers, the WSP encourages individuals to lobby employers in a variety of ways well before filing. There is a host of other, safer, easier, more immediate actions.

Research before you write. Identify first how companies you're involved with are gay-friendly or discriminatory. Consult guides for investors, workers and consumers such as Cracking the Corporate Closet, a survey of 200 of the best (and worst) corporations, by Daniel Baker, Sean Strub and Bill Henning for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute (Harper Business, 1995) and The 100 Best Companies for Gay Men and Lesbians by Ed Mickens (Pocket Books, 1994).

Consider lists of gay-friendly employers. One West Coast company, V Management (800-452-6291), has developed a "Lavender Screen" based on policies. training, benefits & employee groups. The Stonewall Index has tracked 3 gay-friendly companies since 1992 (1000 Abernathy Road, Suite 640; Atlanta GA 30328, 770-481-7480). The Gales Investment Letter, with a focus on gay-friendly growth companies, is put out by Wesley Hicks (PO Box 493, Hawkinsville GA 31036, 912-892-2303). Another, the "Lambda Strategy" of Prudential Securities (250 W. Main Street, Lexington, KY 40507, 800-354-9066), promotes a portfolio approach to investing in employers that exhibit a commitment to the gay community. Victory! itself tracks the market record of publicly-traded employers which offer domestic partnership benefits. Work on other socially responsible investment funds to use the Principles as a screen.

Write CEOs about corporate policy and advocate that the Principles should be a corporate standard. Ask direct questions, address each principle separately, be specific, cite examples, ask yes or no questions, suggest concrete actions. Spell out specifically why the organization should act; stress bottom line reasons not political correctness. Require written answers.

Start by asking employers to reply to the WSP questionnaire if they haven't. Get a copy of the Wall Street Project Census of Sexual Orientation Policies of the Fortune 500 Service & Industrial Corporations (cost for individuals, $25; for organizations, $125, payable to CLGRI). Write for the free census questionnaire from the WSP (185 East 85th Street, Suite 25A, New York, NY 10028). Consult WSP at212/289-1741. The WSP is now conducting a census of the top 100 NASDAQ companies.

Investors should cite specifically how much stock they have. Mobilize investment club action to carry extra weight. And vote in favor of shareholder resolutions on the Principles when they come up.

Employers pay attention to their stockholders, especially directors, management, investors, consumers, employees, and suppliers. Directors can sponsor resolutions, managers can research industry practice, investors can press questions home, customers can make preferences known, employees can organize, and suppliers can set purchasing requirements.

Remember that over 75% of the general public supports the idea of gay equality at the workplace and over 70% believe this type of discrimination is already illegal. The Principles can be a common ground to mobilize support from friends and family for concrete gay activism. Anyone who works or own stock is a potential ally.

More corporations are exploring domestic partnership medical benefits. (All major benefit consulting firms are geared up to help.) However few gays are opting to come out for these benefits because they usually have double-incomes and because such benefits are still taxable. Still, the first step may be a wake-up call to gays in the workplace to what's possible and motivating them to go after it.

The Principles offer a unifying goal for students to use with university administrations and endowments - much as happened with South Africa. Students should ask their administrators if their endowments invest in companies lacking the standards the Principles advocate. Students can likewise challenge recruiters from companies which do not respect these standards - much as they have challenged military recruiters. Likewise, foundations should use their endowments for progressive action. Public pension fund officials, sensitive to community pressure, can add substance and credibility to these initiatives.

Look for opportunities to talk about the Principles in gay and business media. Ask that our media, seemingly hell-bent on becoming People Magazine or Vanity Fair, get serious and address these issues. Part of the problem is that much of America is not aware that there's a problem.

If your employer adopts a policy or implements the Principles send a copy to the WSP. Likewise report incidents of discrimination; don't let them go unchallenged. Lastly, let employers that adopt the Principles know of your support. Remind them of other companies who have taken similar actions and applaud their approach.

Shelley Alpern of Franklin cautions, "Anyone who files an Equality Principles resolution needs to be aware that this is an intensely legalistic process that requires an understanding of arcane Securities and Exchange Commission regulations and past SEC precedents on the issue. The Wall Street Project is eager to work with committed shareholders but I can't emphasize enough that it is not an activity we encourage inexperienced stockholders to try on their own."

Look at the Principles as the common prow of a new icebreaker to break through frozen corporate practice. The key is putting behind that prow a strong ship of concerted action, lining up the corporation's stakeholders, securing employee initiative, and mobilizing expert resources.

What employees can do

Often employers are simply waiting for an employee initiative. This happened at Bell South when the gay employee group pointed out that the company did business with Atlanta - which has a policy non-discrimination based on sexual orientation. Several weeks later the change was made. Employee groups often meet informally at first, offsite, anonymously. Real recognition comes when employees ask for company time for meetings and support group e-mail.

If you would like expert support in pursuing employee groups, consult the appendices in Straight Jobs/Gay Lives by Annette Friskopp and Sharon Silverstein (Scribner, New York, 1995). Check groups such as Out At Work (or Not, PO Box 359, Chicago, IL 60690-0359). Contact the Policy Institute or Attend the annual workplace conferences of the NationalGay & Lesbian Task Force (2320 Seventeenth Street NW, Washington DC 20009, 202-332-6483 ext. 3302 or 3215).

The employee group movement has been largely white collar. Yet domestic partnership benefits were won in New York City because the Gay Teachers Association, part of the United Federation of Teachers, sued for these and other employee benefits. Consult also the Lesbian & Gay Labor Alliance of San Francisco or the Lesbian and Gay Labor Network of NY (who published "Pride at Work: Organization for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Unions" in 1990; PO Box 1159, Peter Stuyvesant Station, New York, NY 10009). See also Gay Workers: Trade Unions and the Law, Chris Beer et al., (State Mutual Books, 1983).

Today's burgeoning gay business associations such as those now operating in the Hudson Valley increasingly include both intrapreneurially oriented employees and entrepreneurs. They are a logical incubators for employee groups - and action.

Resources are available If equality is to have any meat on its philosophical bones it will have to be expressed in corporate benefit policy and procedure. Pioneers in the field such as Lotus Development Corp, Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Levi Strauss & Co. or the employers listed in the Victory! Index may have been inundated with requests. Employers wishing to explore policies and benefits to create a level playing field for consulting firms such as William M. Mercer (301 Tresser Boulevard, Stamford CT 06901, 203-973-2000), The Segal Company (116 Huntington Avenue 8th Fl. Boston, MA 02116 617/424-7337), and Hewitt Associates (100 Half Day Road Lincolnshire IL 60069, 847-295-5000). Victory! itself will be publishing news submitted about the activities of employee groups and gay business associations.

There are a few sources of materials to make it easy for corporations to adopt practical measures that implement the principles. For example, Hollywood Supports offers model policy documents for domestic partner health benefits (8455 Beverly Boulevard, #305, Los Angeles, CA 90048, 213-655-7705) - as do the ACLU National Gay & Lesbian Rights Project (1663 Mission Street, #460, San Francisco, CA 94103, 415-621-2488), the National Center for Lesbian Rights (870 Market Street, #570, San Francisco, CA 94102, 415-392-6257), and the National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Association (PO Box 423048, San Francisco, CA 94142-3048, 415-905-4690). Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund (666 Broadway 12th fl New York, NY 10012, 212-995-8585) offers impact litigation and literature. The Human Rights Campaign has a Workplace Project (1101 Fourteenth Street NW Suite 200 Washington DC 20005, 202-628-4160 ext 4014).

Materials are rapidly becoming available on the Internet. For example the Hawaiian Commission Report is no longer available in print but can be downloaded from http://www.hawaii.gov/lrb/solcvr.html. Journalists Association publications can be found at NGLJANews@aol.com. Hollywood Supports materials are at HSupports@aol.com or http://www.datalounge.com/hssupports. NGLTF publications are at megngtf@aol.com. CLGRI and WSP materials about the use of the Principles, gay employee & business groups, case materials, reference documents, consultants, speakers & writers can be found at http://www.nycnet.com/wallstproj.

Consulting assistance is available through such user-oriented nonprofit groups as NY CyberQueers (208 West 13th Street New York NY 10011, NYCQ@AOL.COM) and the industry-oriented, west coast Digital Queers. For-profit groups such as NYCNET (145 West 28th Street Apt 8F New York NY 10001, 212-268-9285) often help set up websites for nonprofits. Victory! is creating a column that will report the activities of gay employee groups around the country.

Information is available from books such as A Manager's Guide to Sexual Orientation in the Workplace by Bob Powers & Alan Ellis (Routledge, 1995) and Straight Talk About Gays in the Workplace by Liz Winfeld and Susan Spielman (Amacom, 1995).

Employee communications materials are increasingly available. Diversity training offers another vehicle in which to deal with sexual orientation issues. Some individuals, such as Brian McNaught, author of Gay Issues in the Workplace and Victory!'s publisher, MJ McKean-Reich's Intercultural Science Group, offer diversity training on sexual orientation issues.

What can gay businesses themselves do to expand implementation of the Principles? By adopting them and exploring the ways they can be implemented by their stakeholders and suppliers. By promoting and publicizing them. By patronizing those who put them into action. Gay businesses are banding together in a new generation of gay business associations, unusual amalgams of entrepreneurs and employees. Although no national association exists, employee groups may wish to contact one of the several regional and statewide associations ones, including the Colorado Workplace Coalition, the Minnesota Workplace Alliance (Gay & Lesbian Action Council; Sabathani Center; Suite 204; 310 East 38th Street Minneapolis MN 55409), Out at Work or Not in Chicago (PO Box 359 Chicago IL 60690-0359), San Francisco's AGOG: A Group of Groups (PO Box 14513 San Francisco, CA 94114), Progress (a group of groups in northern and southern CA, 10061 Riverside Drive #288 Toluca Lake, CA 91602) and Hollywood Supports, the group of groups within the entertainment industry described above.

What's next?

We must acknowledge the direct costs and lost opportunity costs of our invisibility before equality can proceed at the workplace - in principle or in practice. We're reaching a point where visibility may bear a greater profit than hiding - for all concerned.

Business has known for years that security and social needs have to be met before employees can be expected to achieve and actualize themselves (Maslow's principle). Inequality erodes the foundation of the productivity business desperately needs for the 90s. The ultimate costs of gay invisibility are finally too much for any business - or any individual - to bear. The Principles can bring together the stakeholders of in any individual business, in any region, or in any industry - in new ways to redress the balance.

To live and work as a full human being takes work. The immediate rewards of implementing the Equality Principles are job security, income parity, promotion potential, advancement opportunities - and the breaking up of the Lavender Ceiling. The broader rewards are commensurate: respect, freedom, spontaneity, uniqueness - plus playing fully and sleeping soundly after a good day at work. This is no pale, thin concept we're working for; this is the price and these are the rewards of a full, rich - and gay - life.