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A group of 68 major corporations, including Apple, Cisco and eBay, have joined the legal effort to block a North Carolina law that targets the transgender community.

Documents to be filed in federal district court today support the Justice Department’s efforts to block enforcement of a law known as HB2, which bans transgender people from using public bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Filing together with the Human Rights Campaign, the friend of the court brief argues that the law condones "invidious discrimination" and damages the undersigned companies’ ability to recruit and retain a diverse workforce.

"HB2 is a law that forces transgender persons to deny, disclaim and conceal their gender identity, particularly whenever they wish to use single-sex restroom facilities on state or local government property," said Ted Olson, the prominent litigator who successfully fought for the overturning of California’s Proposition 8 law banning same-sex marriage.

The corporations point out that the law, enacted by the North Carolina legislature in March, is already exacting an economic toll on the state, costing more than 1,700 jobs and half a billion dollars in lost economic activity.

"These companies are sending a powerful message to transgender people and their families that America’s leading businesses have their back," said HRC President Chad Griffin. The 68 companies signing the brief are:

Accenture Affirm Inc. Airbnb American Airlines Apple Biogen Bloomberg LLP Boehinger Ingleheim USA Box Brocade Communications System Inc. Capital One Financial Corporation Cisco Systems Inc. Consumer Technology Association Corning Incorporated Cummins Inc. Dropbox Dupont eBay Etsy Everlaw Expedia FiftyThree Galxyz Gap General Electric Company Glassdoor Grokker Hilton Worldwide Honor IBM Corporation IKEA North American Services Instacart Intel Corporation John Hancock Levi Strauss & Co. LinkedIn Corporation Logitech Marriott International Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company Microsoft Corporation Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Morgan Stanley Nextdoor NIKE OppenheimerFunds Orbitz Worldwide PayPal Pepo Quotient RBC Capital Markets LLC Red Hat Replacements Ltd. Salesforce Slack SV Angel LLC Symantec Corporation TD Bank NA Teespring The Dow Chemical Company Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc ThirdLove Tumblr UnifyID United Airlines Williams-Sonoma Yelp ZestFinance Zynga

Here's the filing:

Proposed Amicus Curiae Brief by jmurrell4037 on Scribd