NEW: Nearly 180 Companies Oppose Alarming Effort to Erase Transgender People From Legal Protections

NEW YORK, Nov. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Responding to a rising tide of legislative and administrative attempts to further marginalize transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex people – detailed in a recent report by the New York Times on administrative efforts to erase transgender non-discrimination protections through reinterpretation of existing law – 121 additional companies, including 49 enterprise businesses and 73 small and mid-size companies, have joined the Business Statement for Transgender Equality since it was first published on November 1.

178 companies in total have now signed the statement, which asserts that diversity and inclusion are good for business, observes that discrimination significantly harms transgender people and imposes enormous productivity costs, and calls for full equality for transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex people under the law. The full text of the statement is included below.

The companies that have signed the statement represent more than 7 million employees, have a collective annual revenue of more than $3.2 trillion, and are drawn from a broad range of industries including financial services, consumer products, and technology.

Sixteen LGBTQ+ community organizations, led by Out Leadership and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), have organized the effort to secure corporate signatories. The coalition also includes: Athlete Ally, Freedom for All Americans, GLAAD, GLSEN, Lambda Legal, The Matthew Shepard Foundation, The National Center for Transgender Equality, The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, The National LGBTQ Task Force, Out & Equal, PFLAG National, The Trevor Project, The Transgender Law Center, and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF).

"We're deeply inspired to see so many of the world's leading companies speaking with a united voice in support and defense of transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex people. And we're grateful to every company that's signed on, including the Out Leadership members who stood up immediately to call for this statement. As we continue to see in our work around the world, including at our Summits in Australia last week and Asia this week, the business community is serving as a crucial backstop for hard-earned progress on LGBT+ equality – because inclusive cultures are more innovative, more productive, and more efficient, and because it's the right thing to do." — Todd Sears, Founder and Principal, Out Leadership

"In one united voice, the business community is making clear they stand with the transgender community against the Trump-Pence administration's unconscionable efforts to gut enforcement of existing civil rights protections. These businesses are speaking out at a crucially important moment as the LGBTQ community faces relentless attacks on equality. No matter how hard the Trump-Pence administration continues to try, we will not be erased." — Jay Brown, Acting Senior Vice President for Programs, Research, and Training, Human Rights Campaign

"So often, these discriminatory policies are made in the name of Business, but companies and communities know that discrimination is – in fact – bad for business. Millions of Americans who believe in equality for all are watching - and they're spending and investing based on this value. Transgender people are deserving of employment, equality, and respect, and the companies who have signed this statement know that, and are stronger for it." — Erin Uritus, CEO, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates

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Business statement for transgender equality 
November 13, 2018

We, the undersigned businesses, stand with the millions of people in America who identify as transgender or gender non-binary, or who are intersex, and call for all such people to be treated with the respect and dignity everyone deserves.

We oppose any administrative and legislative efforts to erase transgender protections through reinterpretation of existing laws and regulations. We also fundamentally oppose any policy or regulation that violates the privacy rights of those that identify as transgender or gender non-binary, or who are intersex.

In the last two decades, dozens of federal courts have affirmed the rights and identities of transgender people. Cognizant of growing medical and scientific consensus, courts have recognized that policies that force people into a binary gender definition determined by birth anatomy fail to reflect the complex realities of gender identity and human biology.

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. Currently more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500 have clear gender identity protections; two-thirds have transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage; hundreds have LGBTQ+ and Allies business resource groups and internal training efforts.

Transgender, gender non-binary, and intersex people are our beloved family members and friends, and our valued team members. What harms them harms our companies.

We call for respect and transparency in policy-making, and for equality under the law for transgender, gender non-binary, and intersex people.

Enterprise Businesses

As of November 1, 2018

Accenture
Adobe Systems Inc.
Airbnb
Altria Group
Amalgamated Bank
Amazon
American Airlines
Apple
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP)
Bank of America
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
Deutsche Bank
The Dow Chemical Company
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
Facebook
Fastly, Inc.
Google
Hogan Lovells
HSBC
IBM Corporation
Intel Corporation
Intuit Inc.
Iron Mountain
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co.
LinkedIn
Lush Fresh 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

As of November 13, 2018

Allen & Overy
AMD
American Express
Asana, Inc.
Atlassian
Best Buy Co. Inc.
BNP Paribas
BounceX
Cardinal Health
Converse, Inc.
Couchbase, Inc.
Cummins
Deloitte LLP
Diageo
Dropbox Inc.
eBay Inc.
Ecolab
Etsy, Inc.
EY
Gamestop
Gap Inc.
GitHub
GSK
Gusto
Hilton Worldwide Inc.
Johnson & Johnson
Kaiser Permanente
Littler
Macmillan
Mastercard
Mercer
Mozilla
Ogilvy
Omnicom Group
Orrick
PayPal
Perkins & Will
Perkins Coie LLP
Progressive Insurance
Quantcast
Sanofi US
Shutterstock, Inc.
Spotify
Square
Squarespace, Inc.
Swiss Re
Tableau
ViiV Healthcare
Workday

Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

As of November 13, 2018

7R Media & Expeditions
AdRoll, Inc., dba AdRoll Group
America Competes
Automattic
Bento Box Communications
Betterment
Bizzabo
Brain+Trust Partners
Branch Metrics
Braze, Inc. (formerly Appboy)
Callen-Lorde Community Health Center
Chef Software
Civis Analytics
Collective Health
Combs Advisory Services
Complete Marketing Systems
Cultivating Change Foundation
Dallas Voice
Dialog Group
Donatti Translation & Interpreting
Elettore
EnFocus Strategies
Fernandez & Company
Five North Chocolate
Foursquare
Freedom QA
GALA NTX
Grand Rounds, Inc
Greater Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce
Handshake
Headspace
Hootsuite
Intersection
Lab Monkey Communications
Lansky Career Consultants
Lime
Litmus Software, Inc.
Lola.com
Mango Digital, LLC
MapAnything, Inc
MediaMath
Megawatt Analytics, LLC
Minted
Mitosis Management
Modern Columbus Realty
Momentum Psychological Services, PLLC
Nakanishi Research & Consulting LLC
New Relic
NightSHIFT Communicator's Network
Nuna
Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)
OutSmart Magazine
Owkin
Patreon
Peloton
Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus
Pivotal
Rathman Consulting & Coaching, Inc.
Rhodes Perry Consulting, LLC
Rudner Law Offices
Safe Connections
Shift Technologies, Inc.
Signal Digital, Inc.
Sprout Social
Strava
Studio 5 - Learning + Development, LLC
SweetRush Inc
Texas Competes Action
The Ally Coalition
TripActions
TripAdvisor
Twilio
Witeck Communications, Inc.

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Out Leadership is the global LGBT+ business network CEOs and multinational companies trust to generate Return on Equality®. It creates global executive events and insights that help leaders realize the economic growth and talent dividend derived from inclusive business, and convenes groundbreaking talent accelerators: OutNEXT, the first global leadership development program for the next generation of LGBT+ talent; Quorum, which seeks to advance LGBT+ diversity in corporate governance; and OutWOMEN, which convenes and celebrates LGBT+ women in business. Out Leadership is a certified B Corp. For more information, please visit www.outleadership.com

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization 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.

SOURCE Out Leadership

Related Links

http://www.outleadership.com

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