Today, HRC hailed a new letter to Texas lawmakers from top global investors speaking out against the discriminatory, anti-transgender Texas bill SB 6. This group represents the first coordinated group of global investors to speak out against the anti-LGBTQ bill.

“As we have seen in states like North Carolina, business leaders are decidedly opposed to anti-LGBTQ discrimination -- both as a workplace matter and because it’s simply the right thing to do,” said JoDee Winterhof, HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs. “Discrimination is costly. We are pleased to see this group of investors forcefully telling Texas lawmakers -- including bill sponsors Dan Patrick and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst -- that SB 6 will negatively affect Texas’ future.”

In the letter, the undersigned write, “As long-term investors in companies doing business in Texas, we are concerned that any form of legislation that allows or facilitates discrimination against LGBT people may make it difficult for our portfolio companies to attract and retain top talent to work in their Texas-based operations.” The signatories include investors in companies that “employ hundreds of thousands of people” across the state of Texas.

SB 6 is a discriminatory, anti-transgender bill, and one of the many egregious anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in Texas this legislative session. The bill would overturn non-discrimination ordinances currently providing critical protections in several major Texas cities; further, it would force state agencies, municipalities, public schools and public universities to discriminate against transgender people. By making it illegal for transgender people in Texas to be afforded access to facilities consistent with their identity, it opens them up to increased discrimination and harassment as they simply live their everyday lives. It also exposes Texas to tremendous risk of the kind of financial, legal, and political blowback that North Carolina has continued to reckon with after the passage of HB2.​