All this is not to gainsay the recent and hard-won LesBiGay victories in a few isolated political arenas. Notably, since August 1999, two more states (Connecticut and Washington) have joined four of their sister states in extending domestic-partner health benefits to their governmental employees; and twelve more cities and counties (including Atlanta, Phoenix, and Albuquerque) now provide similar benefits, bringing the total number of such public entities in America to ninety.28 Equally important is the growing trend in state legislative and judicial recognition of LesBiGay parental rights,29 with more than twenty states formally recognizing second-parent adoption and a few enforcing the rights of de facto parents.30 Social acceptance for LesBiGays seems to be on the rise, at least in American urban centers. A Los Angeles Times survey in June 2000 reported that 74% of respondents claimed to be "comfortable around homosexuals" and 68% supported equal workplace rights for homosexuals.31 Nonetheless, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most recent annual report on hate crime statistics asserted the alarming fact that crimes based on sexual orientation increased at least 4.5% from 1998 to 1999. The 1999 total of 1,317 reported incidents comprised 16.7% of all hate crimes committed during that year.32
Growing respect, perhaps, but still "too few rights."33 Put into bold relief, the political and legal picture for LesBiGays is quite clear: "Citing recent civil-rights 'advances' is rather like viewing the glass as one-fifth full, when it's really four-fifths empty . . . ."34
