Some of the nation’s largest companies are sending a message: bills negatively affecting LGBTQ citizens are bad for business.

More than 40 businesses, a few with connections to Alabama, signed an open letter published through the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy organization, on Wednesday morning opposing the more than one dozen bills across the nation that will affect the lives of LGBQT employees.

The Alabama Senate passed the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, also known as SB 219, last week. This moves the legislation to the state House or Representatives. If the bill passes the House, the act will make it a felony for doctors to prescribe puberty-blockers or hormones to minors. This same bill was also introduced in the state House as HB303.

Company leaders who signed the letter are saying the bills like these don’t reflect their companies' values of inclusion, fairness and equal treatment. The legislation will also negatively impact their bottom lines because less inclusive practices leads to less employee productivity and customer service, business leaders said.

"These bills would harm our team members and their families, stripping them of opportunities and making them feel unwelcome and at risk in their own communities,” the letter states. “As such, it can be exceedingly difficult for us to recruit the most qualified candidates for jobs in states that pursue such laws, and these measures can place substantial burdens on the families of our employees who already reside in these states.”

The following businesses have signed the letter:

AEO Inc.

Airbnb

Amalgamated Bank

Amazon

American Airlines

Apple

Asana, Inc.

AT&T

Bayer US LLC

Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc.

Boehringer Ingelheim USA

Capital One

Corning Incorporated

CSAA Insurance Group

Dow Inc.

Dropbox Inc.

Eastern Bank

Google

Hilton

IBM Corp.

IKEA North America Services, LLC

Instacart

Levi Strauss & Co.

Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics

Lyft, Inc.

Marriott International, Inc.

MassMutual

Microsoft

Mobilize

Nike, Inc.

PayPal

Salesforce

SunLife

Sustainable Food Policy Alliance,

including member companies Danone

North America; Mars, Incorporated;

Nestlé USA; and Unilever United States

TechNet

Trillium Asset Management

Uber

Unilever United States

A couple of these businesses have roots in Alabama. A few of them have expanded or are expanding their footprints in the state. Amazon is expected to hire 1,500 people for its new fulfillment center in Bessemer, which is projected to open up this month. Lush Cosmetics announced in February the summer opening of its second Alabama store at Huntsville’s Bridge Street Town Centre. Apple CEO Tim Cook is from Alabama and graduated from Auburn University.

All three of these companies joined in on the warning that bills promoting discrimination influence their decisions about where they will invest and grow.

“America’s business community has consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that such laws have a negative effect on our employees, our customers, our competitiveness, and state and national economies,” the letter stated.

Carmarion Anderson, HRC’s Alabama state director, testified against the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act during a public hearing at the Alabama House Health Committee last month. Under the act, doctors will face felony charges and up to a decade in prison for prescribing puberty-blockers or hormones to anyone under 19. It also forbids teachers, principals and school counselors from withholding from parents’ information that a student identifies as transgender.

Rep. Wes Allen, R-Troy, who is sponsoring the bill at the state House, has said gender dysphoria is a mental disorder. Thus, minors should receive mental health treatment rather than medication. This goes against a 2018 American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement saying that transgender identity is not a mental disorder and that medications to suppress puberty and cross-sex hormones can be part of a broad-based “gender-affirmative care model.”

Before the Alabama Senate’s passage, Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, questioned whether lawmakers should place restrictions on decisions that should be between parents and their children.

Anderson, who is a transwoman herself, said during a conference call announcing the letter that culturally competent healthcare is essential for transgender and non-binary people.

“All transgender people --but especially transgender kids -- deserve to be able to live their lives in a safe environment, to be able to be supported by the people who love them and to get the health care that they need,” she said.