Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter, Nike
and IBM are among the 60 companies calling for passage of the
Equality Act.
Introduced by Democrats last year, the
Equality Act seeks to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination in seven key
areas, including credit, education, employment, federal funding,
housing, jury service and public accommodations, by effectively
expanding the Civil Rights Act, originally approved in 1964.
On Thursday, the Human Rights Campaign
(HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, launched its
Business Coalition for the Equality Act.
“These business leaders are showing
true leadership and fighting to end a shameful status quo that leaves
LGBT people at risk in a majority of states for being denied services
or fired because of who they are or who they love,” said HRC
President Chad Griffin. “We’re proud of all these corporate
leaders stepping forward to say that all Americans, including LGBT
people, should be able to live free from fear of discrimination and
have a fair chance to earn a living.”
According to HRC, the companies that
make up the coalition employ over 4.2 million people in the United
States and have combined revenues of $1.9 trillion.
Other members of HRC's Business
Coalition for the Equality Act include: Abercrombie & Fitch,
Accenture, Airbnb, Amazon.com, American Airlines, American Eagle
Outfitters, Best Buy, Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim USA, Broadridge
Financial Solutions, Brown-Forman, CA Technologies, Caesars
Entertainment, Capital One Financial, Cardinal Health, Choice Hotels
International, Corning, CVS Health, Diageo North America, Dropbox,
EMC, Gap, General Mills, HP, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels, Intel,
Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg, Levi Strauss & Co., Marriott
International, MasterCard, McGraw Hill Financial, Microsoft, Mitchell
Gold + Bob Williams, Monsanto, Moody's, Oracle, Orbitz, PepsiCo,
Qualcomm, Replacements Ltd., Salesforce, Sodexo, Symantec, T-Mobile,
Target, Tech Data, Coca-Cola Company, Dow Chemical, Hershey Company,
Unilever and WeddingWire.