ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200056
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
NOTE: Below
IBM on Thursday became the nation's largest company to extend health benefits to the partners of its homosexual employees.
Gay activists welcomed the decision and said they hoped it would encourage other companies to do the same. Because it is so large and diverse, IBM is regarded as a bellwether of American business practices.
Its new policy covers dental, vision and general health benefits, starting Jan.1.
``This is a magnificent step forward in terms of corporate America recognizing the value of gay and lesbian employees,'' said Elizabeth Birch, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay political organization.
IBM did not extend benefits to unmarried heterosexual couples. The company, like others, reasoned that such couples can obtain benefits by getting married, an option not open to gays.
IBM employs about 225,000 people worldwide and 110,000 in the United States.
It joins nearly 470 other large corporations, governments and universities in the United States to provide the same benefits to same-sex couples that it does to married couples. That's up from 250 a year ago, according to Common Ground, a Natick, Mass., research firm.
High-tech companies generally have led in the extension of benefits to same-sex couples. Lotus Development Corp., which IBM acquired last year, took the step in 1990 and was among the first to do so.
In recent months, several other household names, including Walt Disney Co. and American Express Co., have also extended health benefits to partners of gay employees.
Political and religious conservatives have criticized such companies. Leaders of Southern Baptist churches have asked the denomination's 16million members to boycott Disney, in part because of its recent extension of benefits to same-sex couples.
``What we really focused on in our discussion was our commitment to nondiscrimination,'' said Jill Kanin-Lovers, vice president of human resources for IBM's U.S. divisions. ``We have a longstanding policy of treating employees equitably and fairly.''
LENGTH: Short : 50 linesby CNB