When Will Companies Give Gay Couples Benefits?
By Andy Heath
Must we wait fifty or seventy-five years when the government forces companies to give gays benefits to convince these companies of the obvious? Perhaps I am too harsh in my judgment of companies, but those companies that do not give gay employees and their spouses - yes, their spouses - benefits are wrong. There is no nicer way to put it. There is no other way to put it. They are wrong. They are morally wrong and they commit a grave business wrong. When you treat gays as second class citizens in any capacity - even in a business capacity - you are wrong. Next topic!
When gays form loving relationships with each other, even for a short period of time, those relationships are just as sacred as straight relationships. When others tell us in whatever way that our relationships are inferior, they are engaging a cruel form of snobbery, and that is simply unacceptable.
Companies will argue that they don't owe gay people anything. My response is that if you owe straight people the right to benefits, then you owe it to gay people. We are human beings too. We have thoughts and feeling too. We have dreams and hopes and relationships too. And when straight people feel they are superior to us, it only means they are inferior. Yes, if you feel superior to gay people, it's a paradox, as it means you are inferior.
Conservative companies that can afford to give gays benefits and choose not to are also inferior, I don't care how much money they have. These "morally righteous" executives only demonstrate their unrighteousness by denying us equal rights.
Companies will find, in my opinion, that their business will improve as their employee morale improves. Their employee morale will improve as companies treat their employees fairly. They will treat their employees fairly when they give their gay employees equal benefits to their straight employees. That is the only way to do good business.
