Business leaders consistently report that they have difficulty with recruitment, retention, and tourism in states that debate or pass legislation that excludes LGBTQ+ people from full participation in daily life. These policy fights negatively impact businesses operationally and financially, and needlessly put the safety and wellbeing of their team members and their families at risk.

So far in 2023, HRC is tracking more than 460 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in statehouses across the country. More than 190 of those bills would specifically restrict the rights of transgender people, the highest number of bills targeting transgender people in a single year to date.

This year, HRC is tracking:

• More than 110 bills that would prevent trans youth from being able to access age-appropriate, medically-necessary, best-practice health care; this year, nine have already become law in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Dakota, Utah, Iowa, Georgia, Kentucky and now West Virginia.

• More than 25 bathroom ban bills filed,

• More than 110 curriculum censorship bills and 40 anti-drag performance bills.

The business statement reads as follows:

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.

• 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

• Celanese

• Center for Community Self-Help

• Charles River Laboratories

• Chobani

• Citigroup Inc.

• Clearway Energy Group

• CNA Insurance

• The College Board

• Comcast NBCUniversal

• Compass

• CONVERSE, Inc.

• 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

• Envision Healthcare

• Equinix

• Equitable

• Etsy, Inc.

• Eventbrite

• Facebook

• FactSet Research Systems Inc.

• Fastly

• FleishmanHillard Inc

• Flexport, Inc.

• G2

• GAP, Inc

• Gearbox

• Genentech

• General Mills

• General Motors

• Gilead Sciences, Inc.

• GitHub

• Glassdoor

• GLG

• Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc.

• GoDaddy

• Google

• GP Strategies Corporation

• Gusto

• H&M

• H&R Block

• Harley-Davidson Motor Company

• The Hartford

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise

• Hilton

• HP Inc.

• HSBC Bank USA

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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.

• PetSmart, LLC

• Pinterest

• Pfizer

• PNC Financial Services Group

• Power Home Remodeling

• PowerSchool

• Prudential Financial, Inc.

• PwC

• R1 RCM Inc.

• Ralph Lauren

• Randstad US

• 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

• T-Mobile

• Takeda Pharmaceuticals, U.S.A., Inc.

• Tapestry Inc.

• Target

• Taskrabbit

• TD SYNNEX

• TechNet

• 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

• Via Transportation

• Victoria's Secret & Co.

• 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

• Workday, Inc.

• Wpromote

• WPP

• Xperi Holding Corporation

• Xylem

• Yahoo

• Yelp Inc.

• Yext

• Zendesk

• Ziff Davis

• Zillow Group

• Zoom Video Communications

• Zurich North America

• Zwift

• Zynga Games