A recent report by the Human Rights Campaign indicated an increase in the number of American companies offering health insurance to the partners of their lesbian and gay employees. According to the report, 3,572 companies, colleges and state and local governments offered or have announced they would offer domestic partner coverage, up 25 percent from a year ago. Among Fortune 500 companies, the number offering domestic partner coverage increased from 70 in August of 1999 to 102 last month. This is despite the fact that no federal laws prohibiting discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people exist, and only 11 states have anti-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation. The increase, while significant, still represents only a fraction of the workplaces in the U.S.: in 1998, the Census Bureau counted 6.9 million workplaces.
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