For once, good news has come from the world of corporate behemoths.
More than 50 companies have issued a rebuke to the Trump administration’s planned assault on transgender rights. The news comes on the heels of leaked memos that describe the administration’s plans to change the definition of gender to mean “a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth.”
Since The New York Times published the story, pro-trans protests have erupted across the nation, and suicide hotlines have reported a dramatic spike in transgender people fighting urges for self-harm. Celebrities like Laverne Cox have also taken to the airwaves to attack the policy.
Related: Suicide hotline calls quadrupled after Trump’s latest attack on transgender people
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Now US businesses have come together to release a statement denouncing the proposed attack on transgender people. “We oppose any administrative and legislative efforts to erase transgender protections through reinterpretation of existing laws and regulations,” the statement reads. “We also fundamentally oppose any policy or regulation that violates the privacy rights of those that identify as transgender, gender non-binary, or intersex. Recognizing that diversity and inclusion are good for business, and that discrimination imposes enormous productivity costs (and exerts undue burdens), hundreds of companies, including the undersigned, have continued to expand inclusion for transgender people across corporate America.”
Though more a symbolic move than anything else, the statement does show that businesses are willing to stand up to Trump and discrimination. In other words, score one for the good guys.
The full roster of companies includes:
Accenture
Adobe Systems Inc.
Airbnb
Altria Group
Amalgamated Bank
Amazon
American Airlines
Apple
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP)
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade
BNY Mellon
Cargill
Cisco Systems Inc.
Citi
Clifford Chance
The Coca Cola Company
Corning Incorporated
Corteva Agriscience™, the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont
The Dow Chemical Company
Deutsche Bank
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
Facebook
Fastly, Inc.
Google
Hogan Lovells International LLP
HSBC
IBM Corporation
Intel Corporation
Intuit Inc.
Iron Mountain
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co.
LinkedIn
Lush Handmade Cosmetics
Lyft
Marriott International
MassMutual
MGM Resorts International
Microsoft Corp.
Nike, Inc.
PepsiCo
Replacements, Ltd.
Ropes & Gray
Royal Bank of Canada
S&P Global
Salesforce
Sheppard Mullin
Sodexo Inc.
Splunk
State Street Corporation
TiVo Corporation
Trillium Asset Management
Twitter Inc.
Uber
Warby Parker
GayEGO
Excellent News! We must fight these anti-LGBT bigots like Trump, Pence, religious extremists, etc.
Kangol
It’s marvelous and so encouraging to see these businesses standing up against hate and a divisive, narcissistic, pathologically lying anti-trans, anti-gay hatemonger and his administration!