Study says 6 state employers best for gay, lesbian workers

Six Virginia companies are among the nation's best for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered workers, according to a new annual report card from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

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The nonprofit's Corporate Equality Index looked at 590 major U.S. employers, including Fortune magazine's list of the 1,000 largest publicly traded businesses, American Lawyer magazine's top 200 grossing law firms and Forbes magazine's ranking of the 200 largest private businesses. Of those, 305 achieved a perfect score of 100, including Booz Allen Hamilton, Capital One Financial, and Federal Home Loan Mortgage (Freddie Mac) all in McLean; Carmax and Hunton & Williams both in Richmond; and Volkswagen of America in Herndon. Locally, Norfolk Southern scored 58. Nationally, two companies received a zero rating: Exxon Mobil and The Laclede Group.

All told, 1,561 businesses were invited to participate in the survey. The new rankings represent "tremendous progress," said Joe Solmonese, the foundation's president, in a statement, as the number of companies with perfect scores rose 45% from last year's rankings. The foundation issued its first ratings in 2002.

The report "shows that, even in the most challenging economy, leading employers are forging ahead of federal and state law to recruit and retain a diverse workforce - regardless of employees' sexual orientation and gender identity or expression," Solmonese said.