Google, Facebook, Amazon and Uber are
among the 56 companies who have signed onto a letter denouncing
President Donald Trump's plan to define gender by a person's
genitalia at birth, a move which would have the chilling effect of
excluding transgender people from protections in existing federal
civil rights law.
(Related: Trump
proposed rule change would “define transgender out of existence.”)
“We oppose any administrative and
legislative efforts to erase transgender protections through
reinterpretation of existing laws and regulations,” the companies
said in a joint statement. “We also fundamentally oppose any policy
or regulation that violates the privacy rights of those that identify
as transgender, gender non-binary or intersex.”
According to the Human Rights Campaign
(HRC), which co-organized the letter, the companies jointly employ
more than 4.8 million workers.
“Transgender people are our beloved
family members and friends, and our valued team members. What harms
transgender people harms our companies. We call for respect and
transparency in policy-making, and for equality under the law for
transgender people,” the
companies said.
HRC and Out Leadership, an LGBT
business group, lead the effort for the statement.
Companies that signed the statement
include Accenture, Adobe Systems Inc., Airbnb, Altria Group,
Amalgamated Bank, Amazon, American Airlines, Apple, Automatic Data
Processing Inc. (ADP), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 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, The Dow
Chemical Company, Deutsche Bank, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and
Company, Facebook, Fastly, Inc., Google, Hogan Lovells International
LLP, HSBC, IBM Corporation, Intel Corporation, Intuit Inc., Iron
Mountain, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Levi Strauss & Co., LinkedIn,
Lush 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 and Warby Parker.
LGBT organizations that helped secure
corporate signatories include Athlete Ally, Freedom for All
Americans, GLAAD, GLSEN, Lambda Legal, National Center for
Transgender Equality, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, National
LGBTQ Task Force, Out & Equal, PFLAG National, The Trevor Project
and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF).