Legislatures nationwide will debate gay rights

Chief executive officers nationwide are likely to face gay-rights issues in the next few years as states take on legislation for everything from discrimination to hate crimes to gay marriages.

For example, California now prohibits public contracts from going to companies that do not offer domestic-partnership

In Central Pennsylvania, the opinions of company officials vary. Some said they would do whatever the law dictates. Others said gay rights have never been an issue for them, so they don't know how they would handle changes in their policies, benefits or sensitivity training for workers.

This year, Pennsylvania legislators have proposed four bills to protect gays under the state's antidiscrimination law, which is separate from its hate-crime law. The proposals would make it illegal to fire gay workers, just as it is illegal to fire people simply because they are black or Jewish.

State House Bill 1850 and Senate Bill 706 would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to prohibit employers from discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. House Bill 1851 and Senate Bill 707 would prohibit such discrimination at educational institutions. The bills are in committee.

Currently, the state's anti-discrimination law protects nearly two dozen other classes, from people of other races and ethnicities to people with guide dogs. But when it comes to gay rights, Pennsylvania's laws are mixed. The state prohibits gay marriages, but it allows same-sex couples to adopt children.

Although the state doesn't protect gays from discrimination, eight municipalities have passed legislation that does so, including Harrisburg, Lancaster and York. Philadelphia also does, and cases often are filed against companies for violating that city's law, said Jonathan Segal, an attorney in Philadelphia who specializes in employment law "Any time there is a new law, there are individuals who will test it," he said.

If an executive violates Philadelphia's anti-discrimination law, the courts will not listen to the executive argue that homosexuality is immoral, Segal said. Pennsylvania does not have a cap on punitive awards in a discrimination case. "All they (business owners) might end up doing is making someone rich," Segal said.

Although many large companies prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, some smaller companies have not adopted

such policies. Key Dies Inc., a steel-rule-die company in Annville, does not include sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination policy, said Tammy Nye, the company's human resources manager.

Key Dies offers domestic-partnership benefits to its 26 employees as long as couples get a form notarized from the company's insurance broker. No same-sex couples have asked for benefits. State insurance law requires any company that offers domestic-partner benefits to offer those benefits to both heterosexual couples and homosexual couples. "Annville is just a small town," Nye said. "The chances of it coming up here are a lot less than if we lived in some place in New York."

Wohlsen Construction Co. extends its anti-discrimination policy to legally protected classes, said Heidi Bianco, the Lancaster company's human resources director. Because sexual orientation is not legally protected, it is not in the handbook, but Wohlsen would follow the law, she said.

Legislatures nationwide are waiting to see the fallout from a recent court ruling in Massachusetts that allows same-sex marriages. If legislators there don't overrule the courts in the next five months, gay and lesbian couples are expected to head to Massachusetts to get married. When they return home, they will challenge laws in Pennsylvania and 36 other states that outlaw marriage between members of the same sex.

If marriages are allowed, companies will have to provide benefits to same-sex couples. The effect on business' bottom line should be minimal, said Terri Emler, Pennsylvania chapter president of the Society of Human Resources Management.

Emler speaks from her experience as a human resources manager for Ingram Micro in Jonestown, Lebanon County. The California-based company added domestic-partner benefits earlier this year, but it has not made a dramatic difference. At the Jonestown facility, a couple of people have applied for the benefits, she said.

The gay and lesbian community had viewed Pennsylvania as a backward state until last year, when the state revised its hate-crimes laws, (see "Employers in dark over hate law," starting on page 3), according to the Human Rights Campaign, The campaign is a civil-rights group based in Washington, D.C.

The group also applauded Gov. Ed Rendell's executive order in September prohibiting discrimination against public employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity.