July 10, 2002

Members of the General Court
State House
Boston, MA 02133

Dear Members of the General Court:

We are writing to express our strong opposition to House 4840, a ballot initiative that would amend the Massachusetts Constitution to deny protections to families headed by same-sex couples. If enacted, this measure would make our state far less competitive in its attempts to attract and retain a quality workforce. Moreover, it is plain unjust. For these reasons, we urge you reject this amendment during this session of the legislature.

As you may know, over the past decade, the private sector has moved rapidly in recognizing and protecting the rights of gay and lesbian employees. Wainwright Bank and many others have taken several steps: we have amended our non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation and have extended health benefits to the domestic partners of our employees. We have encouraged diversity, including sexual orientation, from our boardroom to our mailroom which we believe is a significant contributor to our overall financial and social success.

In addition, Wainwright Bank has testified before Congress on behalf of ENDA, the Employment Non-discrimination Act. We have endorsed the Equality Principles of the Alliance for Corporate Equality which extends equal treatment to all employees regardless of their sexual orientation and we've endorsed the National Organization of Women's Women-Friendly Workplace Pledge which among other things opposes discrimination on the basis of marital status or sexual orientation.

Our experience has shown us that through these policies, we have been better able to attract and retain a broader pool of talent. Any negligible costs of offering domestic partnership benefits are far offset by this gain. Although we once stood alone, many companies have subsequently come to the same realization. Of the Fortune 500 companies, 297 have non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation and 168 offer domestic partner health benefits.

If enacted, the proposed constitutional amendment would move the public sector in precisely the opposite direction that the private sector is heading, with strongly negative consequences for the competitiveness of our state.

As we understand it, it would bar the state, and all of its subdivisions, from providing nearly any legal protections for families formed by same-sex couples, including domestic partner health insurance coverage, bereavement leave, hospital visitation rights, family medical leave, and automatic inheritance rights. If it were added to the state constitution, Massachusetts would have some of the most restrictive laws towards gay and lesbian families in the nation.

Undoubtedly, this would cause a segment of the population to be far less likely to want to live here and would make our state less competitive than its neighbors. This would undermine the efforts of our companies and other corporations to attract talented employees to Massachusetts and keep them here.

In our view, this proposed constitutional amendment would be a significant step backwards for our state. It is socially unjust and bad for business. We urge you to reject this measure and, instead, work with the private sector to create a competitive environment that is second to none.

Sincerely, and on behalf of the Directors and Employees of Wainwright Bank,

Jan A. Miller
President & CEO.

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