Burger King jumped from 55 last year to 80 this year primarily because of their "Proud Whopper" campaign, which included putting its signature burger in a rainbow wrapper at a location in San Francisco this year, said Deena Fidas, the director of HRC's workplace equality program.
A stigma against homosexuality in the workplace is still very present, as proven by the absence of federal laws which aim to protect employees from discrimination. Furthermore, there are still 29 states where an employee can still be fired for being gay, which leaves over 50 percent of total workers vulnerable to employment discrimination, all because of the stigma created against homosexuality.
Most of the Americans, however, sang in chorus agreeing that the practice of firing a gay employee is "terrible." Moreover, 69 percent of the respondents stated that they believe it was illegal to fire people just because of their sexual orientation.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government has put out efforts to address the issue on homosexuality in the workplace. President Barack Obama previously issued an executive order last July that prevented discrimination based on sexual orientation against all federal employees, which greatly improved the working conditions of nearly 3 million people working for the federal government.
