Michael Dell, Richard Branson and Marc
Benioff are among the business leaders calling on Georgia Governor
Nathan Deal, a Republican, to veto a bill that seeks to protect
opponents of marriage equality.
Last week, lawmakers approved House
Bill 757 after replacing direct references to same-sex marriages with
allowing religious groups to deny services “that violate such
faith-based organization's sincerely held religious beliefs.”
(Related: Georgia
lawmakers okay anti-gay bill.)
Salesforce CEO Benioff has threatened
to pull a digital marketing conference scheduled to take place in May
if Deal signs the bill into law.
“If HB 757 is not vetoed and instead
becomes law, Salesforce will have to reduce investments in Georgia,
including moving the Salesforce Connections conference to a state
that provides a more welcoming environment for the LGBTQ community,”
the company said.
“I'm with @Benioff,” the Huffington
Post's Arianna Huffington tweeted, “we need to stand up to
discrimination and urge @GovernorDeal to veto anti-gay Georgia House
Bill 757.”
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson
messaged, “Georgia must stop discriminating in the name of
religious freedom,” while Dell CEO Michael Dell tweeted that he was
“proud” that Dell SecureWorks had joined a growing coalition of
businesses calling on Deal to veto the bill.
(Related: NFL,
Twitter, Square object to Georgia bill critics say would allow LGBT
discrimination.)