\n
![](\"http:\/\/hrc-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/images\/made\/images\/remote\/http_hrc-assets.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/files\/images\/blog\/HRC_Businesses_Equality_Sign_blog1600_640_360.png\")
<\/p>\n120 Major CEOs & Business Leaders Urging North Carolina To Repeal Discriminatory Anti-LGBT Law<\/b>
\n<\/p>\n
Today, HRC and Equality NC, the state organization working to secure equal rights and justice for LGBT North Carolinians, announced that executives from Hyatt, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Northrop Grumman, Ralph Lauren, American Apparel, Qualcomm, Twilio, Udacity, Pandora Media, and EMC Corporation have signed onto an open letter<\/a> that now includes more than 120 leading CEOs and business leaders calling on Governor Pat McCrory and the North Carolina General Assembly to repeal the radical provisions in the deeply discriminatory law that was rammed through<\/a> the legislature last week.<\/p>\n The letter — signed by dozens of CEOs from across the nation — was first made public Tuesday afternoon, and came only a day after Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced <\/a>he would veto anti-LGBT legislation in Georgia after facing a sustained outcry from a broad chorus of advocates and companies. A copy of the updated letter and its signatories can be found here<\/a> and below.<\/p>\n “Discrimination is bad for North Carolina, bad for America, and bad for business,” said HRC President Chad Griffin in announcing the open letter on Tuesday<\/span>. “These business leaders are speaking out because they know this attack on lesbian<\/a>, gay<\/a>, bisexual<\/a> and especially transgender North Carolinians isn’t just morally wrong — it also puts their employees, customers and North Carolina’s economy at risk. For the sake of all North Carolinians, Governor McCrory and the General Assembly must act now to repeal this heinous attack on fairness and equality.”<\/p>\n “North Carolina’s place as a business leader in the South is based on fairness, inclusion, and diversity,” said Equality NC Executive Director Chris Sgro <\/strong>Tuesday<\/span> with the release of the open letter. “HB 2 does not represent North Carolina values, and it weakens our competitive edge. We are glad to see our business community in the Old North State standing up against discriminatory measures like this. Governor McCrory made a mess of our state last week, and our businesses are leading the charge to repair our state to a place of fairness.”<\/p>\n On Monday<\/span>, Gov. McCrory unbelievably claimed, “We have not taken away any rights that have currently existed in any city in North Carolina” — but PolitiFact rated that claim as false<\/a>. H.B. 2 has eliminated existing municipal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people and prevents such protections from being passed by cities in the future. The legislation also forces transgender students in public schools to use restrooms and other facilities inconsistent with their gender identity, putting 4.5 billion dollars in federal funding under Title IX at risk. It also compels the same type of discrimination against transgender people to take place in state buildings, including in public universities. Lawmakers passed the legislation in a hurried, single-day session last Wednesday, and Governor McCrory quickly signed it into law in the dead of night.<\/p>\n North Carolina has the unfortunate distinction of becoming the first state in the country to enact a law attacking transgender students, even after similar proposals were rejected across the country this year — including a high-profile veto<\/a> by the Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota. North Carolina school districts that comply with the law will now be in direct violation of Title IX, subjecting the school districts to massive liability and putting an estimated $4.5 billion of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education, as well as funding received by schools from other federal agencies, at risk. This section of House Bill 2 offers costly supposed solutions to non-existent problems, and it forces schools to choose between complying with federal law — plus doing the right thing for their students — or complying with a state law that violates students’ civil rights. Read more<\/a> about how this bill puts federal funding at risk here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The full letter to Governor McCrory and list of signatories is below:<\/p>\n Dear Governor McCrory,<\/em><\/p>\n We write with concerns about legislation you signed into law last week, HB 2, which has overturned protections for LGBT people and sanctioned discrimination across North Carolina. Put simply, HB 2 is not a bill that reflects the values of our companies, of our country, or even the overwhelming majority of North Carolinians.<\/em><\/p>\n We are disappointed in your decision to sign this discriminatory legislation into law. The business community, by and large, has consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that such laws are bad for our employees and bad for business. This is not a direction in which states move when they are seeking to provide successful, thriving hubs for business and economic development. We believe that HB 2 will make it far more challenging for businesses across the state to recruit and retain the nation’s best and brightest workers and attract the most talented students from across the nation. It will also diminish the state’s draw as a destination for tourism, new businesses, and economic activity.<\/em><\/p>\n Discrimination is wrong and we believe it has no place in North Carolina or anywhere in our country. As companies that pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming to all, we strongly urge you and the leadership of North Carolina’s legislature to repeal this law in the upcoming legislative session.<\/em><\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/em><\/p>\n Karen Appleton, Senior Vice President, Box<\/em> Equality NC is a statewide organization working to secure equal rights and justice for lesbian<\/a>, gay<\/a>, bisexual<\/a> and transgender North Carolinians. For more information, please visit www.equalitync.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n www.hrc.org\/blog\/more-businesses-join-list-of-over-120-ceos-leaders-urging-nc-to-repeal-anti?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 120 Major CEOs & Business Leaders Urging North Carolina To Repeal Discriminatory Anti-LGBT Law Today, HRC and Equality NC, the state organization working to secure equal rights and justice for LGBT North Carolinians, announced that executives from Hyatt, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Northrop Grumman, Ralph Lauren, American Apparel, Qualcomm, Twilio, Udacity, Pandora Media, and EMC Corporation … Continue reading 120 Major CEOs & Business Leaders Urging North Carolina To Repeal Discriminatory Anti-LGBT Law<\/span>
Brandee Barker, Cofounder, The Pramana Collective<\/em>
Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce<\/em>
Chip Bergh, President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.<\/em>
Michael Birch, Founder, Blab<\/em>
Ed Black, President and CEO, Computer & Communications Industry Association<\/em>
Nathan Blecharczyk, Cofounder and CTO, Airbnb<\/em>
Steven R. Boal, CEO, Quotient Technology Inc.<\/em>
Ron Boire, CEO, Barnes and Noble<\/em>
Lorna Borenstein, CEO, Grokker<\/em>
Brad Brinegar, Chairman and CEO, McKinney<\/em>
John Bryant, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kellogg Company<\/em>
Wes Bush, Chairman, CEO and President of Northrop Grumman<\/em>
Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, co-CEOs, Atlassian<\/em>
Lloyd Carney, CEO, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.<\/em>
Brian Chesky, CEO, Airbnb<\/em>
Ron Conway, Founder and Co-Managing Partner, SV Angel<\/em>
Tim Cook, CEO, Apple<\/em>
Paul T. Dacier, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, EMC Corporation<\/em>
Dean Debnam, Chairman and CEO, Workplace Options<\/em>
Jack Dorsey, CEO, Square and Twitter<\/em>
David Ebersman, Cofounder and CEO, Lyra Health<\/em>
Jared Fliesler, General Partner, Matrix Partners<\/em>
Vice Forlenza, Chairman, CEO and President, BD<\/em>
Joe Gebbia, Cofounder and Chief Product Officer, Airbnb<\/em>
Jason Goldberg, CEO, Pepo<\/em>
Alan King, President and COO, Workplace Options<\/em>
Kristen Koh Goldstein, CEO, BackOps<\/em>
Mitchell Gold, co-founder and chair-man<\/a>, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams<\/em>
John H. Graham IV, President and CEO, American Society of Association Executives<\/em>
Logan Green, CEO, Lyft<\/em>
Mike Gregoire, CEO, CA Technologies<\/em>
Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator<\/em>
David Hassell, CEO, 15Five<\/em>
Charles H. Hill III, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Human Resources, Pfizer Inc.<\/em>
Reid Hoffman, Chairman, LinkedIn<\/em>
Robert Hohman, Cofounder & CEO, Glassdoor<\/em>
Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO, Hyatt Hotels Corporation<\/em>
Drew Houston, CEO, Dropbox<\/em>
William H. Howle, President of U.S. Retail Banking Group, Citibank<\/em>
Steve Huffman, CEO, Reddit<\/em>
Chad Hurley, Cofounder, YouTube<\/em>
Dave Imre, Partner and CEO, IMRE<\/em>
Dev Ittycheria, President & CEO, MongoDB<\/em>
Laurene Powell Jobs, President, Emerson Collective<\/em>
Cecily Joseph, VP Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer, Symantec Corporation<\/em>
Steve Joyce, CEO, Choice Hotels International<\/em>
Travis Kalanick, CEO, Uber<\/em>
David Karp, Founder and CEO, Tumblr<\/em>
Travis Katz, Founder and CEO, Gogobot<\/em>
Brian Krzanich, CEO, Intel <\/em>
Joshua Kushner, Managing Partner, Thrive Capital<\/em>
Michael W. Lamach, Chairman and CEO, Ingersoll-Rand plc<\/em>
Ralph Lauren and Stefan Larrsson, Ralph Lauren Corporation<\/em>
Jeff Lawson, Founder, CEO and Chairman, Twilio<\/em>
Max Levchin, CEO, Affirm<\/em>
Dion Lim, CEO, NextLesson<\/em>
Shan-lyn Ma, CEO, Zola<\/em>
Vishal Makhijani, COO, Udacity<\/em>
Tom Mangas, CEO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide<\/em>
Bill Maris, CEO, Google Ventures<\/em>
Marissa Mayer, President and CEO, Yahoo<\/em>
Melody McCloskey, CEO, StyleSeat<\/em>
Douglas Merrill, CEO, Zestfinance<\/em>
Dyke Messinger, President and CEO, Power Curbers Inc.<\/em>
Steve Mollenkopf, CEO, Qualcomm Inc.<\/em>
Brian Moynihan, CEO, Bank of America<\/em>
Hari Nair, Vice President and General Manager, Orbitz.com<\/a> & CheapTickets.com<\/a><\/em>
Christopher J. Nassetta, President & Chief Executive Officer, Hilton Worldwide<\/em>
Michael Natenshon, CEO, Marine Layer<\/em>
Alexi G. Nazem, Cofounder and CEO, Nomad Health<\/em>
Alexis Ohanian, Cofounder, Reddit<\/em>
Laurie J. Olson, EVP, Strategy, Portfolio and Commercial Operations, Pfizer Inc.<\/em>
Bob Page, Founder and CEO, Replacements, Ltd.<\/em>
Doug Parker, Chairman and CEO, American Airlines<\/em>
Mike Pedersen, CEO and President, TD Bank, N.A.<\/em>
Michelle Peluso, Strategic Advisor and former CEO, Gilt<\/em>
Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google<\/em>
Mark Pincus, Founder and Executive Chairman, Zynga<\/em>
Hosain Rahman, CEO, Jawbone<\/em>
Bill Ready, CEO, Braintree<\/em>
Evan Reece, CEO, Liftopia<\/em>
Stan Reiss, General Partner, Matrix Partners<\/em>
John Replogle, CEO, Seventh Generation<\/em>
Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco Systems<\/em>
Virginia M. Rometty, Chairman, President and CEO, IBM Corporation<\/em>
Dan Rosensweig, CEO, Chegg<\/em>
Kevin P. Ryan, Founder and Chairman, Alleycorp<\/em>
Bijan Sabet, General Partner, Spark Capital<\/em>
Julie Samuels, President, Engine<\/em>
George A. Scangos, PhD, CEO, Biogen<\/em>
Paula Schneider, CEO, American Apparel<\/em>
Steve Schoch, CEO, Miramax<\/em>
Dan Schulman, President and CEO, PayPal<\/em>
Howard Schultz, Chairman and CEO, Starbucks<\/em>
Adam Shankman, Director and Producer<\/em>
Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, Consumer Technology Association<\/em>
David A. Shaywitz, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, DNAnexus<\/em>
Behshad Sheldon, President and CEO, Braeburn Pharmaceuticals<\/em>
Ben Silbermann, CEO, Pinterest<\/em>
Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft<\/em>
Arne Sorenson, President and CEO, Marriott International<\/em>
David Spector, Cofounder, ThirdLove<\/em>
Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO, Yelp<\/em>
John G. Stumpf, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Wells Fargo & Company<\/em>
Julie Sweet, Group Chief Executive North America, Accenture<\/em>
Bret Taylor, CEO, Quip<\/em>
Todd Thibodeaux, CEO, CompTIA<\/em>
Brian Tippens, Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise<\/em>
David Tisch, Managing Partner, BoxGroup<\/em>
Nirav Tolia, Cofounder and CEO, Nextdoor<\/em>
Kevin A. Trapani, President and CEO, The Redwood Groups<\/em>
Mark Trudeau, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals<\/em>
Ken Wasch, President, Software & Information Industry Association<\/em>
Casey Wasserman, Chairman and CEO of Wasserman & President and CEO of the Wasserman Foundation<\/em>
Bob & Harvey Weinstein, Co-Founders and Co-Chairmen, The Weinstein CompanyDevin Wenig, CEO, eBay<\/em>
Tim Westergren, Founder and CEO, Pandora Media, Inc.<\/em>
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n