Business Statement on Anti-LGBTQ+ State Legislation

For years, business leaders have shared the detrimental business impacts of policies and debates that exclude LGBTQ+ people from full participation in daily life, including negative impacts on workforce, recruitment, productivity, and bottom line. In recent years, these policies have increasingly targeted LGBTQ+ youth, including a variety of attempts to isolate transgender youth and to make schools less safe and inclusive for LGBTQ+ young people. Today we are seeing further expansion into policies that would block mention of LGBTQ+-inclusive families in schools, lead to book banning, and even attack the sexual harassment prevention, safe workplace, and diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings and programs that are essential to corporate operations, ethics, and legal obligations.

These issues remain major concerns for business leaders, who are hearing concerns from employees and recruits about safety and inclusion for themselves and their children in states where such policies are pursued. The cumulative effect of these many attempts to exclude LGBTQ+ people is real, and these business signatories remain impacted by these issues. This letter, originally published in 2020 as a joint letter with Freedom for All Americans, continues to grow as business leaders seek to ensure that their team members feel safe and included everywhere they operate

So far, 337 companies have signed the Business Statement Opposing Anti-LGBTQ+ State Legislation stating their clear opposition to harmful legislation aimed at restricting the access of LGBTQ+ people in society.

If you are interested in having your business join the statement, click here.

We are deeply concerned by the bills being introduced in state houses across the country that single out LGBTQ+ individuals - many specifically targeting transgender youth - for exclusion or differential treatment.

Statement Signatories

The full statement reads:

The companies joining this statement do business, create jobs, and serve customers throughout the United States. Our businesses strongly embrace diversity and inclusion because we want everyone who works for us or does business with us to feel included and welcomed as their true, authentic selves. Fairness, equal treatment, and opportunity are central to our corporate values because we care about our employees and the customers we serve. What’s more, these values also matter to our bottom lines. Inclusive business practices lead to more productive and engaged employees, increased customer satisfaction; and, ultimately, improved competitiveness and financial performance.

We are deeply concerned by the bills being introduced in state houses across the country that single out LGBTQ+ individuals - many specifically targeting transgender youth - for exclusion or differential treatment. Laws that would affect access to medical care for transgender people, parental rights, social and family services, student sports, or access to public facilities such as restrooms, unnecessarily and uncharitably single out already marginalized groups for additional disadvantage. They seek to put the authority of state government behind discrimination and promote mistreatment of a targeted LGBTQ+ population.

These bills would harm our team members and their families, stripping them of opportunities and making them feel unwelcome and at risk in their own communities. As such, it can be exceedingly difficult for us to recruit the most qualified candidates for jobs in states that pursue such laws, and these measures can place substantial burdens on the families of our employees who already reside in these states. Legislation promoting discrimination directly affects our businesses, whether or not it occurs in the workplace.

As we make complex decisions about where to invest and grow, these issues can influence our decisions. America’s business community has consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that such laws have a negative effect on our employees, our customers, our competitiveness, and state and national economies.

As business leaders dedicated to equal treatment, respect, and opportunity for all - as well as to improving the financial and investment climate across the country - we call for public leaders to abandon or oppose efforts to enact this type of discriminatory legislation and ensure fairness for all Americans.

Signed

  • 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.
  • 23andMe
  • 2U, Inc.
  • 360 Behavioral Health
  • 3M Company
  • Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
  • Accenture
  • Acxiom LLC
  • The Adecco Group
  • Adobe Inc.
  • Advance Auto Parts
  • AEO Inc.
  • Affirm
  • Airbnb
  • Airbus Americas
  • Albemarle Corporation
  • AllianceBernstein
  • Ally
  • Altria Group Inc.
  • Amalgamated Bank
  • Amazon
  • AMD
  • American Airlines
  • American Express
  • American Honda Motor Company
  • Amgen, Inc.
  • AMN Healthcare
  • Anaplan
  • Anywhere Real Estate
  • Apple
  • Applied Materials, Inc.
  • Arcadis U.S. Inc.
  • Asana, Inc.
  • Ascena
  • AstraZeneca
  • AT&T
  • Atlassian
  • Autodesk
  • Avanade, Inc.
  • Avantor
  • Avita Care Solutions/QCare+
  • Baker Tilly US
  • BASF Corporation
  • Bayer US LLC
  • BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe)
  • BD (Becton, Dickinson & Co.)
  • Beam Suntory
  • Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc.
  • Berkshire Bank
  • Best Buy Co., Inc.
  • Biogen
  • Block, Inc. (Formerly Square, Inc.)
  • Bloomberg LP
  • Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island
  • Blueprint Medicines
  • Boehringer Ingelheim USA
  • Boston Consulting Group
  • Boston Scientific
  • Bounteous
  • Box, Inc.
  • BP
  • Bright Health Group
  • Bright Horizons Family Solutions
  • Brown-Forman Corporation
  • Built Technologies
  • Capital One
  • Capri Holdings Limited
  • Cardinal Health
  • Cargill
  • Cargo Transporters, Inc.
  • CarGurus
  • Carlson
  • Catalent, Inc.
  • Celanese
  • Center for Community Self-Help
  • Charles River Laboratories
  • Chartis
  • Chobani
  • Cisco Systems, Inc.
  • Citigroup Inc.
  • Clearway Energy Group
  • CNA Insurance
  • The College Board
  • Comcast NBCUniversal
  • Compass
  • Consumer Safety Technology
  • CONVERSE, Inc.
  • CoreLogic
  • Corning Incorporated
  • Cowen Inc.
  • CrowdStrike
  • CSAA Insurance Group
  • CSG International
  • Curology
  • CVS Health
  • Dechert LLP
  • Deckers Brands (UGG, HOKA, Teva, Sanuk and Koolaburra by UGG)
  • Dell Technologies
  • Deutsche Bank USA Corp.
  • Discord
  • Dow Inc.
  • Doximity
  • Dropbox Inc.
  • DWS Investments
  • EAB
  • Early Warning Services, LLC
  • Eastern Bank
  • Ecolab Inc.
  • EDP Renewables North America
  • Elanco Animal Health
  • Electronic Arts
  • EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Electronics
  • Emerson
  • Envision Healthcare
  • Equinix
  • Equitable
  • Etsy, Inc.
  • Eventbrite
  • Exelon
  • Facebook
  • FactSet Research Systems Inc.
  • Fastly
  • FleishmanHillard Inc
  • Flexport, Inc.
  • G2
  • GAP, Inc
  • Gearbox
  • Genentech
  • General Mills
  • General Motors
  • Gilead Sciences, Inc.
  • Ginkgo Bioworks
  • GitHub
  • Glassdoor
  • GLG
  • Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc.
  • GlobalFoundries
  • GoDaddy
  • Google
  • GP Strategies Corporation
  • GSK
  • Gusto
  • H&M
  • H&R Block
  • Harley-Davidson Motor Company
  • The Hartford
  • Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Hilton
  • Hitachi Vantara
  • HP Inc.
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • HSBC Bank USA
  • HubSpot
  • Hyatt
  • Hyve Solutions
  • IBM Corp.
  • ICM Partners
  • IHG Hotels & Resorts
  • IHS Markit
  • IKEA
  • Included Health
  • Indeed
  • Indigo Ag
  • Instacart
  • Intel
  • Interpublic Group
  • Intuit
  • Invitae Corporation
  • J.Crew Group
  • J.M. Smucker Co., The
  • Jacobs
  • JCPenney
  • John Hancock
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • Kaplan, Inc.
  • Kearney
  • Kellogg Company
  • The Knot Worldwide
  • The Kraft Heinz Company
  • Lam Research
  • LegalZoom
  • Levi Strauss & Co.
  • Lexmark International, Inc.
  • LinkedIn
  • Logitech
  • L'Oréal USA
  • Lululemon
  • Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics
  • Lyft, Inc.
  • Macy's, Inc
  • Mailchimp
  • ManpowerGroup
  • Marriott International, Inc.
  • Mars, North America
  • Marsh McLennan
  • MassMutual
  • Mastercard
  • Mattel, Inc.
  • McKesson
  • Medtronic
  • Meow Wolf
  • Merck
  • MetLife, Inc.
  • Micron
  • Microsoft
  • Mobilize
  • MolsonCoors
  • Momentive
  • Mondelez International
  • Moss Adams
  • Motive Inc.
  • Nestlé USA
  • New Belgium Brewing
  • NextRoll, Inc.
  • NI
  • Niantic
  • Nielsen
  • Nike, Inc.
  • Nordstrom, Inc.
  • Nuance Communications
  • NXP USA, Inc.
  • Okta
  • Olo
  • OpenText
  • Oracle Corporation
  • Pacific Gas & Electric Company
  • Paramount Global
  • Pariveda Solutions
  • Patagonia
  • Patreon
  • PayPal
  • PepsiCo
  • Peloton Interactive, Inc.
  • Penguin Random House
  • PetSmart, LLC
  • Pinterest
  • Pfizer
  • PNC Financial Services Group
  • Power Home Remodeling
  • PowerSchool
  • Prudential Financial, Inc.
  • PwC
  • R1 RCM Inc.
  • Ralph Lauren
  • Randstad
  • Royal Bank of Canada
  • RedFin Real Estate
  • Red Hat, Inc.
  • REI Co-op
  • RES (Renewable Energy Systems)
  • Ripple
  • SAGE Publishing
  • Salesforce
  • SAP
  • ServiceNow
  • Shell USA, Inc.
  • Shipt, Inc.
  • Shutterstock
  • Siemens Corporation, USA
  • Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy
  • Siemens Healthineers, USA
  • Signet Jewelers
  • Silicon Labs
  • Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • Sony Music Group
  • Sony Pictures Entertainment
  • Splunk
  • Starbucks
  • State Street Corporation
  • SunLife
  • Sustainable Food Policy Alliance, including member companies Danone North America; Mars, Incorporated; Nestlé USA; and Unilever United States
  • Symetra Life Insurance Company
  • Synchrony Financial
  • Sysco Corporation
  • T-Mobile
  • Takeda Pharmaceuticals, U.S.A., Inc.
  • Tanium Inc.
  • Tapestry Inc.
  • Target
  • Taskrabbit
  • TD SYNNEX
  • TechNet
  • TerraPower LLC
  • Teva Pharmaceuticals
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific
  • Tinuiti, Inc
  • Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
  • Trane Technologies
  • TransUnion
  • Trillium Asset Management
  • TriNet Group, Inc.
  • Tripadvisor
  • TripleLift
  • Trupanion
  • U.S. Bank
  • Uber
  • UKG
  • Unilever United States
  • Union Pacific
  • United Airlines
  • Unity
  • Upwork
  • VF Corporation
  • Via Transportation
  • Victoria's Secret & Co.
  • ViiV Healthcare
  • VMLY&R
  • VMware
  • The Walt Disney Company
  • Warby Parker
  • WarnerMedia
  • Warner Music Group
  • Wayfair
  • Wayside Youth & Family Support Network
  • WE Communications
  • Weber Shandwick
  • Wells Fargo
  • WeWork
  • Wiley
  • Wise
  • Workday, Inc.
  • Workiva
  • Wpromote
  • WPP
  • Xerox Corporation
  • Xperi Holding Corporation
  • Xylem
  • Yahoo
  • Yelp Inc.
  • Yext
  • Zendesk
  • Ziff Davis
  • Zillow Group
  • Zoom Video Communications
  • Zurich North America
  • Zwift
  • Zynga Games