Post submitted by Stephen Peters, former Senior National Press Secretary and Spokesperson

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

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.