Trillium Asset Management will introduce a shareholder proposal on behalf of Equity Foundation of Portland, Ore., at a May 7 meeting to press AFLAC to change its corporate policy to begin allowing domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples.

Jonas Kron, a vice president with Trillium, said today that the proposal is mostly symbolic, but he hopes the insurance company's board will take note of the importance of providing domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples.

Aetna, AIG, Chubb, The Hartford, ING North America, MetLife, Nationwide, Unum, State Farm, Wellpoint, Humana, and Cigna all provide domestic partnership benefits, Kron says. AFLAC does not.

“There's a long history of this kind of advocacy,” Kron told GA Voice in a phone interview. “It's safe to say that millions of workers in this country have benefited from shareholder proposals.”

Trillium will send a representative to the meeting at AFLAC's Columbus, Ga., headquarters to introduce the proposal, Kron said.

“It's to demonstrate that the company has shareholders that are concerned about it,” Kron said. “We don't do shareholder proposals just where we can win. We do them because they are important issues. It's often very successful and persuasive. Even if it's not, it's important to do.”