ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Texas-based oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. stockholders will vote Wednesday on a proposed company policy to ban discrimination against gay or transgender workers, a shareholder resolution pushed by New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Using the $150 billion state pension fund's stock portfolio as influence, the comptroller's office said it has helped persuade 27 other big corporations to agree to new nondiscrimination policies, though several previous attempts at Exxon Mobil have failed. Holders of 20 percent of the company's shares supported a resolution last year. Language on transgender rights was added in 2008.

Fund investment officials remain undeterred, though the proposal may not pass again Wednesday. They note that losing at annual spring meetings can mean winning eventually when corporate management, which controls most voting shares, quietly makes the changes. Sometimes that happens through dialogue, or in advance of a potentially embarrassing vote, they said.