“Today, HRC’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act has surpassed more than 200 companies urging Congress to pass comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Every LGBTQ person deserves to earn a living, raise their families and live their lives free from discrimination. And these leading companies know that protecting their employees and customers from discrimination isn’t just the right thing to do -- it’s also good for business.”

The bipartisan Equality Act would finally add clear, comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people to our nation's civil rights laws. Currently, 50 percent of LGBTQ Americans live in the 30 states that still lack statewide legal non-discrimination protections, leaving their residents and visitors at risk of being fired, denied housing, or refused service because of who they are or who they love.

Discrimination is a real and persistent problem for LGBTQ Americans. HRC polling has found that nearly two-thirds of self-identified LGBTQ Americans report experiencing discrimination. The Equality Act would extend existing civil rights protections to LGBTQ people by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity across key areas of life, including employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally-funded programs and jury service.

Recent polling shows that a growing majority of Americans support federal non-discrimination protections and LGBTQ equality. A recent survey by PRRI found that seven in 10 Americans (71 percent) support laws like the Equality Act. In addition, post-election polling from HRC found that 60 percent of voters in the 2018 midterms opposed the Trump-Pence administration’s reported plans to define gender entirely by sex assigned at birth, thereby potentially excluding transgender people from civil rights protections. Overall, voters also identified protecting the rights of groups targeted by the Trump-Pence administration as their top reason for voting to flip the U.S. House.

In March, HRC launched a public awareness and advertising campaign called “Americans for the Equality Act.” Filmed by award-winning directors Dustin Lance Black and Paris Barclay, the series debut video featured Academy Award-winning actress Sally Field and her son Sam Greisman. The campaign has so far also featured transgender singer and songwriter Shea Diamond, actress Justina Machado, U.S. Olympian Adam Rippon, Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown, and Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband Justin Mikita.

The more than 200 of the nation’s leading businesses who now support the Equality Act include A.T. Kearney Inc.; Abercrombie & Fitch Co.; Accenture; Adobe Systems Inc.; ADP; Advanced Micro Devices Inc.; Airbnb Inc.; Alaska Airlines; Alcoa Corp.; Ally Financial Inc.; Altria Group Inc.; Amalgamated Bank; Amazon.com Inc.; American Airlines; American Eagle Outfitters Inc.; American Express Global Business Travel; Apple Inc.; Applied Materials Inc.; Arconic; Ascena Retail Group Inc.; Aspen Skiing Company LLC; AT&T Inc.; Atlassian; Bain & Co. Inc./ Bridgespan Group; Bank of America Corp.; Bayer U.S. LLC; BASF Corp.; BD; Best Buy Co. Inc.; Biogen; Boehringer Ingelheim USA Corp.; Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.; Boston Scientific Corp.; Box Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.; Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc.; Brown-Forman Corp.; Caesars Entertainment Corp.; Capital One Financial Corp.; Cardinal Health Inc.; Cargill Inc.; Chevron Corp.; Chobani; Choice Hotels International Inc.; Cisco Systems Inc.; Citigroup Inc.; Citrix Systems Inc.; CME Group Inc.; CNA Financial Corporation; Coca-Cola Co., The; Compass Bancshares Inc. (BBVA Compass); Corning; Converse Inc.; Cox Enterprises Inc.; CSAA Insurance Group; Cummins Inc.; CVS Health Corp.; Danone North America; Darden Restaurants Inc.; Deloitte LLP; Dell Technologies Inc.; Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., The; Diageo North America; Dow Chemical Co., The; Dropbox Inc.; E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DuPont); Eastern Bank Corp.; Eaton Corp.; eBay Inc.; Ecolab Inc.; Edison International; Ernst & Young LLP; Estée Lauder Companies Inc., The; Evolent Health Inc.; Exelon Corp.; Expedia Group; Facebook Inc.; First Data Corp.; Food Lion; Gap Inc.; General Electric Co.; General Mills Inc.; General Motors Co.; Giant of Maryland LLC; Gilead Sciences Inc.; Glassdoor Inc.; Google Inc.; Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America, The; Gusto; HERE North America LLC; Hershey Co., The; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.; Hilton Inc.; HP Inc.; HSF Affiliates LLC; HSN Inc.; Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP; Hyatt Hotels Corp.; IBM Corp.; IHS Markit Ltd.; IKEA Holding US Inc.; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Insight Enterprises Inc.; Intel Corp.; InterContinental Hotels Group Americas; Iron Mountain Inc.; John Hancock Financial Services Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Juniper Networks Inc.; Kaiser Permanente; Kellogg Co.; Kenneth Cole Productions Inc.; KPMG LLP; Lendlease Americas Inc.; Levi Strauss & Co.; Linden Research Inc.; Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics; Lyft Inc.; Macy’s Inc.; Mars Inc.; Marriott International Inc.; Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.; Mastercard; Medtronic PLC; Merck; Meredith Corp.; MGM Resorts International; Microsoft Corp.; Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams; Moody’s Corp.; Morgan Stanley; Nationwide; Navient; Navigant Consulting Inc.; Netflix Inc.; Nike Inc.; Northrop Grumman Corp.; Nuance Communications; Office Depot Inc.; Oracle Corp.; Patreon Inc.; Paul Hastings LLP; PepsiCo Inc.; Pfizer Inc.; Pinterest Inc.; PNC Financial Services Group Inc., The; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Procter & Gamble Co.; Pure Storage Inc.; QUALCOMM Inc.; Realogy Holdings Corp.; RE/MAX LLC; Replacements Ltd.; Rockwell Automation Inc.; Royal Bank of Canada; S&P Global Inc.; Salesforce; SAP America Inc.; Seagate Technology plc; Shire PLC; Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP; Shutterstock Inc.; Siemens Corp.; Sodexo Inc.; Spotify USA Inc.; Square Inc.; SurveyMonkey Inc.; Symantec Corp.; Synchrony; Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.; Target Corp.; Tech Data Corp.; TIAA; T-Mobile USA Inc.; TPG Global LLC; TransUnion; Turner Construction Co.; Twitter Inc.; U.S. Bancorp; Uber Technologies Inc.; Ultimate Software; Under Armour Inc.; Unilever Englewood; United Airlines; United Parcel Service Inc.; Univision Communications Inc.; Verizon Communications Inc.; Visa Foster; Warby Parker; WeddingWire Inc.; Wells Fargo & Co.; Whirlpool Corp.; Williams-Sonoma Inc.; Workday Inc.; Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc.; Xerox Corp.; Yelp Inc.; Yext Inc.; Zillow Group; Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organizations working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

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