Houston Companies Don't Do Too Badly In Survey Of Gay-Friendly Workplaces

​The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has issued its latest rankings of how businesses treat their gay and lesbian employees, and things look a little better than last year.

The report gave 305 businesses a top score of 100 this year; that's an increase from last year's 260. Eleven of the top 20 Forbes-ranked companies got perfect scores. (Not ExxonMobil, which has such a nice large building here and has yet to adopt the gay-friendly benefits policy that Mobil had.)

How'd Houston do?

Trevor Thomas of the HRC wouldn't tell Hair Balls how he thought Houston stacked up against other cities, but noted that we did have a bunch of companies among the 305 nabbing perfect scores.

"While Congress considers a federal law that prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, businesses can take immediate steps to ensure all employees in their workforce are treated fairly today," he said. "These 305 businesses -- 7 of which are headquartered in Houston -- and all employers actively working to improve their rating, set an example for all U.S. employers, including the federal government."

We also do better than Dallas: 17 Dallas companies were rated; six had 100 scores. 13 Houston companies were rated; seven got 100. "More than half of the companies rated in Houston have a 100% ranking, but only roughly a third of the companies rated in Dallas have a 100% score," Thomas told us. "Interesting, also, because the report ranks more Dallas companies than Houston."

HRC broke out all the Texas companies and their scores. Here's the list, with Houston companies highlighted:

Affiliated Computer Services    60    Dallas
AMR Corp. (American Airlines)    100    Fort Worth
Andrews Kurth LLP    70    Houston
AT&T Inc.    100    Dallas
Austin Radiological Assn.    53    Austin
Baker & Botts LLP    100    Houston
BMC Software Inc.    100    Houston
BNSF Railway Co.    20    Fort Worth
BP America Inc.    100    Houston
Brinker International Inc.    100    Dallas
Clear Channel Communications Inc.    100    San Antonio
Comerica Inc.    80    Dallas
ConocoPhillips    70    Houston
Continental Airlines Inc.    100    Houston
Dean Foods Co.    73    Dallas
Dell Inc.    100    Round Rock
Exxon Mobil Corp.    0    Irving
Freescale Semiconductor Inc.    100    Austin
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP    100    Houston
GameStop Corp.    100    Grapevine
H.E. Butt Grocery Co.    75    San Antonio
Haynes and Boone LLP    100    Dallas
J.C. Penney Co. Inc.    95    Plano
Kimberly-Clark Corp.    100    Irving
Men's Wearhouse Inc., The    50    Houston
Nokia Corp.    50    Irving
Nortel Networks Corp.    85    Richardson
Perot Systems Corp.    53    Plano
RadioShack Corp.    40    Fort Worth
RRI Energy Inc.    75    Houston
Sabre Holdings Inc.    100    Southlake
Shell Oil Co.    100    Houston
Southwest Airlines Co.    95    Dallas
Spectra Energy Corp.    80    Houston
Tenet Healthcare    40    Dallas
Texas Instruments Inc.    100    Dallas
Vinson & Elkins LLP    100    Houston
Waste Management Inc.    85    Houston
Whole Foods Market Inc.    85    Austin

Looks like ExxonMobil's behind the energy-industry curve. Must be the fact they're headquartered in Irving.