Amazon, IKEA, Lyft, Hilton, Warby Parker and Others Opposed Anti Gay Legislation`It’s Bad for Business'
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| TRANSLATION IN ENGLISH: "If God Hates Gays Why Did He Make Them so beautiful" |
Jamie McGee, Nashville Tennessean
Amazon, IKEA, Lyft, Hilton, Warby Parker and several other businesses operating in Tennessee are speaking out against legislation affecting LGBT individuals, arguing the proposed bills will make employee recruitment more difficult and harm the state's business climate.
These companies, which sent signed letters to state leaders, join a growing list of major employers publicly opposed to legislation that allow child placement agencies to deny same-sex couples on religious grounds and that requires the state's attorney general to defend school districts determining bathroom use for transgender students.
Marriott International, MassMutual, Nike, InterContinental Hotels Group, Salesforce, Unilever and Replacements also signed a letter dated Tuesday, initiated by the Human Rights Campaign and sent to Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and House Speaker Glen Casada. Amazon, AllianceBernstein, Curb Records, Dell, Postmates, Salesforce, Warner Music Group and more than a dozen small businesses signed a separate letter, initiated by the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce with support from Tennessee Equality Project and Freedom for All Americans
Warner Music Group, Curb Records and AllianceBernstein have previously issued statements voicing their concerns about the bills.
"The business community, by and large, has consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that bills that target LGBTQ people are bad for our employees and their families, bad for our customers and bad for business," the letter sent to Casada and McNally said. "This is not a direction in which states move when they are seeking to provide successful, thriving hubs for business and economic development."
The child placement bill and school district defense bill were both recommended for passage Tuesday in a Senate committee. The school district bill is scheduled to be heard in a House committee Thursday.
Sponsors of those bills and other bills related to LGBT individuals have said they are pursuing the legislation to protect religious freedom.
“We are grateful to the corporations that have signed this letter opposing these harmful bills, and we implore Tennessee’s lawmakers to heed their warning," Beck Bailey, acting director of the Workplace Equality Program at the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. "The Volunteer State needs only look east toward North Carolina to see how anti-LGBTQ legislation can harm a state’s residents, economy and reputation."
North Carolina passed a bill in 2016 that restricted protections for LGBT individuals and required students in public schools to use the bathroom corresponding with the sex on their birth certificate. The state saw significant economic losses reaching $3.76 billion over a 12-year period, according to an Associated Press analysis. The bill has since been partially repealed.
Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitter @JamieMcGee_.
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