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Apple, Facebook and Google among 56 businesses telling Trump not to weaken transgender rights
By Tony Romm
November 1 at 12:00 PM
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| Source: Matt McClain/The Washington Post |
Apple, Facebook, Google and Uber are among 56
companies that told the Trump administration on Thursday that they
oppose any change in federal policy that would define gender on the
basis of one’s biological sex at birth — the latest clash between tech
giants and the White House over civil rights issues.
In
a letter to President Trump, the businesses said such a policy would be
discriminatory and harm their workers. The companies said they “stand
with the millions of people in America who identify as transgender,
gender non-binary, or 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,”
they wrote. “We also fundamentally oppose any policy or regulation that
violates the privacy rights of those that identify as transgender,
gender non-binary, or intersex.”
Last month, Trump said he is “seriously” rethinking how transgender people are treated
under federal law, telling reporters that his administration has “a lot
of different things happening with respect to transgender right now.”
The effort has been led internally by the Department of Health and Human
Services, which last year told officials not to use the word “transgender” in their budget documents.
The move marked the Trump administration’s latest effort to roll back federal protections for transgender people, including students who seek to use the bathrooms of their choice at school,
and it drew an outcry from equal-rights organizations. Fifteen of those
groups, led by the Human Rights Campaign and Out Leadership, organized a
campaign to get business leaders to speak out against the Trump
administration’s potential policy change.
Companies
signing the tech-heavy letter include Airbnb, Amazon.com, Ben &
Jerry’s Homemade, IBM, Intel, Lyft, Microsoft, Dow Chemical and Warby
Parker. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon,
owns The Washington Post.)
“Transgender people
are our beloved family members and friends, and our valued team members.
What harms transgender people harms our companies,” the companies wrote
Thursday.
The letter marks the industry’s
latest salvo against the Trump administration over its treatment of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. Top executives at
Google and Twitter sharply criticized the president last year after he
issued an order that banned transgender people from serving in the
military. And many of the same companies signed a joint letter in May
2017 opposing legislation in Texas that would restrict transgender
students’ bathroom use.
I would surmise that many of these companies, such as my own employer, have non-discrimination policies that afford protection to their transgender employees as well as to other individuals. Our organization does a lot to encourage and support all forms of diversity and I think that we are not unusual or out of the mainstream.
ReplyDeleteI think that by now most major employers and organizations have come around to understanding that it is wrong to discriminate and ultimately beneficial to the company or organization or governmental entity to promote and encourage diversity. Does the question boil down to a situation where private action exceeds the limitations of governmental coercion? Would it be a better world if we did not need big brother dictating our behavior.
Glad you could use this story!
ReplyDeleteWhile I appreciate these corporations standing up for transgender Americans such as myself, I am not going to accept a government which does not support us.
It is only through legal standing with the government that our civil rights are guaranteed.
That's why I support Democrats and reject Republican bigots...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/caitlyn-jenner-i-thought-trump-would-help-the-lgbtq-community-i-was-wrong/2018/10/25/3c4cd61e-d86a-11e8-83a2-d1c3da28d6b6_story.html