CVS, Cargill, Kellogg, Salesforce,
Warner Media, and Pepsi Co. are among the new signatories to a
business statement opposed to anti-transgender legislation.
The statement, drafted by the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBTQ rights advocate,
has the support of more than 150 major companies.
HRC said that the list of new
signatories has more than tripled in the past year.
At least 160 anti-LGBTQ bills are
pending in legislatures across the United States, with more than half
specifically targeting transgender youth.
(Related: South
Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signs anti-transgender sports bill into
law.)
“We are deeply concerned by the bills
being introduced in state houses across the country that single out
LGBTQ+ individuals – many specifically targeting transgender youth
– for exclusion or differential treatment,” the statement reads
in part. “Laws that would affect access to medical care for
transgender people, parental rights, social and family services,
student sports, or access to public facilities such as restrooms,
unnecessarily and uncharitably single out already marginalized groups
for additional disadvantage.”
“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 statement
continues.