The ``State of the Workplace" annual report tracks the number of companies that offer domestic-partner (DP) benefits and include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies. It is compiled from sources including direct reporting to HRC, news accounts, state and local governments, employees resource groups, individuals and gay advocacy organizations.

This year's report documents a sharp increase in the number of companies, colleges and state and local governments providing domestic partnership benefits to their employees. Between Aug. 2000 and Aug. 2001 -- the period covered by the report -- 712 employers added benefits for the same-sex partners of their employees, bringing the total number of workplaces that offer DP benefits to 4,284. That figure represents a 20 percent increase from 2000, when 3, 572 businesses offered the benefits. More significantly, in just two years the number of businesses offering DP benefits has increased by 50 percent -- from 2,856 in 1999 to the current 4,284.

HRC's Darryl Herrschaft, one of the principal authors of ``State of the Workplace," called the numbers among the most surprising of the report. ``The pace of employers offering these benefits has been increasing," he said. ``Even in the absence of local requirements we're still seeing a record number of employers offering the benefits." Herrschaft said the increase was spurred in part by the June announcement that the nation's three biggest auto makers -- Ford, Dimler-Chrysler and General Motors -- were implementing DP benefits, which caused other companies to re-evaluate their benefits packages.

The report notes that the trend toward offering DP benefits is most clear in the Fortune 500. There are now 145 Fortune 500 companies who offer DP benefits -- more than double the number of Fortune 500's that extended the benefits in 1998. Thirty-six Fortune 500 companies implemented benefits this year -- more than in any other year since HRC has tracked the trend. Locally, the Gillette Company -- which ranks188 -- was one of the companies to implement DP benefits this year. ``It was the right thing to do," said Eric Kraus, Gillette's vice president for corporate communications. ``I think we have an ongoing evaluation of the benefits we offer. This was an enhancement to the benefits package." The company employs 4,500 workers in its Boston headquarters and 34,000 globally. While Kraus said the company has no way of tracking how many employees have taken advantage of the benefits, he noted, ``It was widely heralded as a positive move."

Gillette is also one of the 294 Fortune 500 companies (59 percent) that now include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policy, another of HRC's measures of equal workplace treatment for gays. Thirty-nine Fortune 500 companies added sexual orientation to their policies this year -- an increase of 15 percent from 2000.

Including those companies, HRC identified a total of 2,001 companies, colleges and state and local governments that now include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies -- an increase of 293, or 17 percent, in one year.

The growing trend toward treating gays and lesbian equally in the workplace is a matter of good business practice, said Walter Schubert, Jr., chairman and CEO of the Gay Financial Network, the leading on-line resource devoted to the financial needs of the gay community. ``It is my opinion that any company seeking to maximize its profit potential will not limit the Human Resources Pool," said Schubert, who was also the first openly gay member of the New York Stock Exchange. ``The most valuable asset within any company are its Human Assets -- the employees. I think it's safe to say that major corporations -- Fortune 500 companies -- got to be, and remain at the top of the list of America's leading and most profitable companies because of their demand to attract the best candidates -- the most qualified for employment. It's crazy to discriminate against anyone if they are the best qualified for the job."

``Today more and more Americans who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered feel it's important to know what a company's policies [are] towards them as GLBT individuals," Schubert added. ``They don't want to be closeted at work. They want to feel welcome. They want to be treated with respect like every other employee and judged by the quality of their work and the content and quality of their character."

Herrschaft called the report ``mixed, but largely positive," though he also noted, ``these battles aren't won easily, especially at the state and local levels." Indeed, only eight states provide DP benefits to the same-sex partners of state employees -- most recently Maine and Rhode Island. Gay activists in Massachusetts are certainly no strangers to the battle to pass DP legislation, having been unsuccessful in doing so since 1992. Recently, the state Senate passed a DP bill, which now faces in uphill battle in the House. Given the state's progressive reputation -- it was one of the first to pass a law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1989 -- Herrschaft said he's baffled as to why the state doesn't extend DP benefits to its employees. ``I wish I had a politically astute answer," he said. ``I'm surprised quite frankly that Massachusetts hasn't taken care of that yet. I think we're heartened by Gov. Swift's decision to offer some limited benefits," said Herrschaft, referring to her recent decision to provide benefits -- except for health insurance coverage -- to state employees. ``I would hope that she and the legislature would act to remedy that."

All of this leads Herrschaft to conclude, ``We're still seeing corporations really moving faster than the federal government and the rest of society," in treating gays equally. The ``State of the Workplace" report documents that while the majority of Americans oppose discrimination against gays in the workplace, such discrimination is legal in 39 states and Congress has yet to pass the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of real or perceived sexual orientation.

Schubert says it's time for the federal government to step up to the plate. ``Corporate America is definitely leading the way. The federal government and current legislation on the books is not a true measure, a good yard stick for how society feels about workplace discrimination against Americans who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered," he observes. ``..."The federal government and our elected officials need to understand this, accept this and move to formalize this with the passage of ENDA legislation. The reason why ENDA is not being passed is because of the ban on gays in the military. You can't have ENDA and at the same time discriminate against gays in the military."

Herrschaft also points out that though many companies are moving in the right direction by recognizing gay employees, there is more work to be done. ``There are a lot of corporations doing the right thing, but there are also corporations doing the wrong thing. Exxon-Mobil, for example." When the two companies merged in 1999, it became the first U.S. employer to rescind a non-discrimination policy including sexual orientation. It also simultaneously closed Mobil's DP benefits program to any additional employees. HRC called for a boycott of Exxon-Mobil last June after repeated efforts to have the policies reinstated failed.

Herrschaft noted that gays and lesbians need to continue to do what they have already been doing in order to advance equality at work -- come out in the workplace, explain to colleagues why DP benefits are important, and organize gay employee groups. But he also says that while DP benefits are important, other measures -- such as diversity training -- are equally important as they make people feel safer to come out at work. But HRC also knows that money talks. ``We're focusing on the fact that treating people fairly has a positive effect on the bottom line, Herrschaft said. ``That's the message we'd like to get out there."