The public civil-rights movement for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT people) officially started June 27, 1969, when police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City and bar patrons decided—for the first time—to fight back. In many cities and states across the United States at that time, it was illegal to serve alcohol to gays or lesbians and it was common for police to raid gay and lesbian bars. The event became known as the Stonewall Riots and it galvanized the gay-rights movement and inspired LGBT people throughout the country to organize in support of LGBT civil rights.

Forty years later, the struggle for LGBT equality still continues to stoke fierce debate in America.

On Oct. 28, 2009, gay-rights advocates scored a major victory when President Barack Obama signed legislation extending existing federal hate-crime laws to include those committed on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Bill, championed by gay and lesbian and other civil-rights groups for more than 10 years, had been stalled in Congress for years.

Shepard was a gay college student who was brutally killed in 1998 in Wyoming. Byrd was a Black man chained and dragged to death that same year on the back of a pickup truck by three white men in Texas.

Although passage of the hate-crimes bill marks a milestone for LGBT Americans and their friends and allies, discrimination and inequity is still very real in this country, while in many other countries, it is a crime punished by ostracism and even death.

In the United States, politically-heated battles continue over the federal ban on same-sex marriage, employment discrimination and the current policy banning gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Currently, the federal government does not recognize the marriages of same-sex couples, under the Defense of Marriage Act. Some members of Congress have tried—and failed—to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. This was defeated twice, in 2004 and 2006. Forty-four states currently have laws or state constitutional amendments explicitly prohibiting the recognition of marriages between same-sex partners.

Same-sex marriage is currently permitted in five of the 50 states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont, and New Hampshire will join on January 1, 2010. Other states give same-sex couples legal rights as civil unions but do not recognize them as marriages.

In California, same-sex marriage was legal from June 2008 to November 2008, after the California Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. But the California voters later approved a voter initiative known as Proposition 8 that reinstated the ban on same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriages performed between June 16, 2008, and November 4, 2008, when it was still legal are still recognized and valid.

THE MILITARY

The current policy prohibiting lesbians and gays from openly serving in U.S. Armed Forces has been hotly debated ever since the law known as the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was passed in 1993 during the Clinton administration. President Obama has repeatedly reiterated a campaign pledge to end the policy, but many gay-rights advocates feel Obama hasn't moved quickly enough to address the issue and has not set a firm timetable. Today, 75 percent of Americans believe openly lesbian and gay citizens should be able to serve in the U.S. military, compared with 62 percent in 2001 and 44 percent in 1993, according to a poll commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign.

THE WORKPLACE

Currently, federal law provides legal protection against employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, age and disability, but not sexual orientation or gender identity. In 29 states, it is still legal to fire someone based on his or her sexual orientation, and in 38 states, it is still legal to fire someone for being transgender.

Proposed federal legislation known as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would address discrimination in the workplace by making it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or refuse to promote an employee based on the person's sexual orientation or gender identity at companies with 15 or more employees. The legislation was introduced in the Senate on Aug. 5, 2009; a House version was introduced on June 24, 2009, and the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on the measure on Sept. 23. 

An estimated 87 percent of Fortune 500 companies currently include sexual orientation in their equal-employment policies, and more than one-third also include gender identity, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest civil-rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.

Another piece of legislation winding its way through Congress is The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, which would provide the same family benefits to lesbian and gay federal civilian employees as are already provided to employees with opposite-sex spouses. Currently, 59 percent of Fortune 500 companies provide same-sex domestic-partner benefits to their employees. In addition, 22 states, the District of Columbia, and more than 150 local governments make benefits available to public employees and their same-sex partners, according to HRC.

Offering same-sex domestic-partner health benefits is a criterion for earning a spot on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® list. 

Every fall, the HRC conducts an in-depth analysis of Fortune 500 companies and national law firms. It’s called the Corporate Equality Index survey. In order for companies to earn a perfect score of 100, companies must have a nondiscrimination policy that includes protection for transgender employees. Companies must also offer all types of domestic-partner health benefits and have an LGBT employee-resource group or a diversity council and engage in appropriate and respectful advertising and marketing.

To view a list of the companies on HRC's Corporate Equality Index, visit www.HRC.org/workplace. 

In this section, you can follow the LGBT fight for equality, such as the recently signed hate-crimes bill, and find out which companies on the DiversityInc Top 50 rank highest for their progressive LGBT efforts.