Apple’s gay CEO Tim Cook wrote that Indiana’s recently passed “religious freedom” law “isn’t a political issue”, but using a fake demand to protect religious freedom – which has been secure since the First Amendment was passed in 1791 – to justify discrimination against queers is about as political as you can get. So if Apple is serious about making life better for LGBT people, it should use some of its cold, hard cash as the most valued corporation in human history, hire some effective lobbyists and send them out en masse to repeal these cockamamie anti-gay laws.

And while we’re at it, Gay Inc – which has spent millions on obtaining for us the right to marry – needs to end stop asking for fucking crumbs and finally embrace a full court lobbying campaign to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, to end this bullshit once and for all.

It might sound cynical to suggest using lobbying, that evil way of conducting government business which subverts democracy, to achieve LGBT equality. But in a political battle, the most efficient way to get something accomplished is to lobby lawmakers. Waiting for federal courts to undo Indiana’s or any of the 20 states with anti-equality “Religious Freedom Restoration Acts” will take years or decades, because – like so much other goddamn anti-gay legislation – Bill Clinton signed a federal version of these laws in 1993.

Sadly, lobbying is a ridiculously solid investment and a surefire way to get shit done. Money spent on lobbying has been shown to have a return on investment of up to 22,000%. The National Rifle Association can stop gun control reforms, no matter how much the public wants them, simply by lobbying Congress. Similarly, congressional support for Israel, private prisons and the defense industry will always be staunch, as long as those causes’ lobbies make hobbies of buying bipartisan backing.

It’s a good start for Cook to come out and write about discrimination in Indiana, but two op-eds sure as hell ain’t enough from someone that filthy rich (who is already planning to give away his wealth anyway). Nor is firing Apple’s anti-gay Alabama lobbyist. And it’s not enough for Apple or Walmart – headquartered in increasingly anti-gay Arkansas, and the largest private employer in the nation – to speak out after these bills pass. They need to use their ample lobbying muscle to keep them from ever becoming law in the first place.

Lobbying is no less nefarious than tying civil LGBT rights to a corporate equality index. And even if lobbying subverts the intent of our democracy, LGBT discrimination laws do not reflect that democracy in the slightest. For example, an overwhelming percent of the public has supported gay and lesbian job protections for years and yet LGBT Americans do not have employment protections under federal law nor in most states.

So why not make Gay Inc just buy off Congress, too? It’s not thought of as a traditionally historic model of seeking civil rights but, without effective lobbying at the state level, the potential gains of the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (both of which saw lobbyists work their magic on lawmakers) were stymied by state level backlashes and the national Republican southern strategy.

We are witnessing a similar state backlash to federal legislative and judicial gains against LGBT discrimination; the blowback may be intense, given Republicans now control 70% of all statehouses. But gay Americans today have a weapon at mitigating these backlashes my black ancestors didn’t in the 1960s: we have members of our tribe who wield lots of economic and formal political power. The most valued company on earth is headed by a gay man. David Geffen and Peter Thiel are among the richest men in the world. If not exactly overwhelmed by out legislators, Capitol Hill is awash with gay staffers. And of all of his backers, President Obama has perhaps done the most for his LGBT supporters.

It’s still not enough, though. So Apple, Walmart, Gay Inc, and every corporation which pimps out its name at Gay Pride ought to put its economic and political leverage towards lobbying for our common good. Apple spent $3m lobbying last year in just Washington for its own enrichment. And, while a corporation like Walmart may say it can’t spend shareholder money to lobby for human rights, it finds the money to pay the likes of the regressive American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) to push for legislation it sees as beneficial.



Gay Inc already informally acts as a lobbying clearinghouse for dubious interests which having nothing to do with being queer, like drone manufacturing and financial services. And look no further than its boards of directors and corporate sponsors to understand how tightly Gay Inc already is in bed with banks; financial companies are the most serious lobbyists of all. If power gay philanthropists could get their finance employers to spend even a fraction of what they spend on financial deregulation lobbying legislators directly for gay rights – say, if while HRC is kissing up to Citibank, it could convince the company already shaking Congress down for tax cuts to shake it down for full, real LGBT civil rights too – we’d have equality quicker than a Grindr hookup leaves after he’s finished (and faster than it takes to say those sexy words, “Repeal Dodd-Frank”!)

Boycotts are important, and there are many good signs that threatening and enacting them have seemingly had a positive effect in Indiana and may in some other, but not all, states – and you can’t boycott 20 states. You have to change laws at the federal level and in multiple states separately; and, the fastest way is by lobbying, via facetime with and infusions of campaign cash to state legislators. No more dicking around: Tim Cook, other power gays and the companies who want our business need to put their money where their mouths are.