Subject: MCA to Extend Health Insurance To Gay Couples 
Date: Published: 5/18/92 (66 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Marketing & Media:
    MCA to Extend
    Health Insurance
    To Gay Couples
    ----
    By David J. Jefferson
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.  -- MCA Inc. said it will extend
 health insurance coverage to partners of gay and lesbian
 employees, making it the first major entertainment company to
 do so.
    MCA, a unit of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and
 parent of Universal Studios, joins the small but growing
 ranks of corporations and municipalities extending group
 health coverage to employees' same-sex partners.  Lotus
 Development Corp., Levi Strauss Associates Inc., Ben &
 Jerry's Homemade Inc. and New York's Montefiore Medical
 Center already have similar insurance plans, as do the cities
 of Seattle, San Francisco and West Hollywood, Calif.
    MCA's move comes after company President Sidney J. 
 Sheinberg and former Fox Inc. Chairman Barry Diller last year
 formed Hollywood Supports, a group designed to battle
 industry discrimination against gays and lesbians and people
 with the AIDS virus.
    The policy, which takes effect July 1, "underscores MCA's
 ongoing commitment to creating a work place free of
 discrimination by ensuring fair treatment of all employees,
 regardless of sexual orientation," Mr. Sheinberg said.
    Other entertainment companies, including Fox, are working
 with Hollywood Supports, which helped MCA draft its new
 policy, to extend health benefits to partners of gay and
 lesbian workers.  "This sends a message to the rest of the
 industry regarding the treatment of gays and lesbians," said
 Richard Jennings, executive director of Hollywood Supports.
 In the past year, MCA, Fox and Walt Disney Co. 's Disneyland
 have adopted non-discrimination policies covering gay and
 lesbian employees.
    Though the entertainment industry has come under
 increasing fire from the gay community for its treatment of
 gays and lesbians both on and off the screen, gay rights
 advocates were unanimous in their praise of MCA.  "Sid
 Sheinberg has always been a shining example of how the
 straight community in Hollywood can deal with homophobia,"
 said Richard Rouilard, editor in chief of the Advocate, a gay
 news magazine.  Scott Robbe, co-founder of Out in Film, a
 group of about 500 openly gay and lesbian entertainment
 professionals, said "It's nice to see the entertainment
 industry taking the lead in implementing a policy that's long
 overdue."
    Many companies considering domestic partner policies have
 been awaiting the outcome of two lawsuits working their way
 through New York courts:  The lesbian partner of a deceased
 American Telephone & Telegraph Co. worker is charging AT&T
 with discrimination for denying her spousal death benefits,
 and the Gay Teachers Association has filed a discrimination
 suit against the New York City Board of Education for denying
 employment benefits to unmarried couples.

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