More than 400 US companies are calling
on Congress to approve the Equality Act.
The Equality Act seeks to prohibit
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in
employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, jury service,
education, and federally funded programs.
The bill cleared the House and is
currently before the Senate. The Biden administration has called
passage a priority – a reversal from the Trump administration.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, announced on Tuesday that its
Business Coalition for the Equality Act had grown to include 416
member companies.
HRC said the Business Coalition for the
Equality Act is the largest business coalition to ever come together
in support of legal LGBT equality.
“We are seeing growing support from
business leaders because they understand that the Equality Act is
good for their employees, good for their businesses and good for our
country,” HRC President Alphonso David said. “Employers care
about their employees’ ability to rent an apartment, send their
kids to school, visit the dentist, and pick up the groceries free
from discrimination. They realize that when LGBTQ employees and their
family members are protected in their daily lives, it makes them more
secure and confident in their jobs, and also more productive. Thank
you to every company that is speaking up and advocating for the
passage of the Equality Act. It’s time for the Senate to listen to
the business community and the public and pass this long overdue
legislation.”
HRC said that its coalition members
collectively employ more than 14.6 million people in the United
States and that its business coalition includes dozens of Fortune 500
companies.