ING Insurance's decision to remove policy application questions which may be offensive to gay men is being hailed as a significant victory by LGBT advocacy network Rainbow Wellington.
A number of Rainbow Wellington members had found that when they applied either for health or life insurance, or to extend their coverage to a new partner, they received a supplementary questionnaire asking personal questions about their sexual behaviour if they identified themselves as gay.
The questionnaire asked: 'Have you ever participated in male to male anal sexual activity' and 'Are you currently participating in male to male anal sexual activity?' "Some of those understandably affronted by this brought their concerns to us," explains Rainbow Wellington Chair Tony Simpson.
Further investigation established that asking such questions was almost certainly a breach of the Human Rights Act.
Rainbow Wellington contacted the Human Rights Commission ING Insurance and the Privacy Commission, with no initial results.
"The breakthrough seems to have come when we cited the form of words used in such circumstances by the insurance industry in the United Kingdom," says Simpson. "After consulting their re-insurer ING have decided that they will remove the offending questions from the point at which they reprint their standard questionnaire form and replace these with two other questions: 'Do you have Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or are you carrying the HIV virus or antibodies to that virus' and 'Within the last five years have you been exposed to the risk of AIDS, or HIV virus or antibodies to that virus?'"
This is within the law and avoids the highly offensive personal nature of previous questions, notes Simpson.
"We have congratulated ING on their ultimately positive approach to this problem. Our advice to members contemplating taking out insurance with ING to take into account the offensive nature of their questionnaire is consequently withdrawn."
The Rainbow Wellington team's almost two years of negotiations on the issue have paid off, Simpson concludes. "Campaigns of this sort conducted by Rainbow Wellington can be effective and have successful outcomes and are not just hot air as is sometimes suggested."
