More Than 400 Businesses Back Equality Act

Keegan (they/them) is a journalist/artist based in Los Angeles.

More than 400 businesses—including Tesla, Pfizer, Delta Air Lines, and Amazon—signed on to support the Equality Act, which is currently moving through Congress, Associated Press reports.

The Human Rights Campaign says its Business Coalition for the Equality Act has grown to 416 members total, including Fortune 500 companies and big names like Apple, PespiCo, General Motors, Facebook, and Starbucks, among others.

“It’s time that civil rights protections be extended to LGBT+ individuals nationwide on a clear, consistent and comprehensive basis,” says Carla Grant Pickens, IBM’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, in an HRC press release.

The Equality Act aims to amend the existing civil rights law to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics, extending to employment, housing, loan applications, education, and other areas. The bill passed the U.S. House 224-206 in February, all democrats and just three republicans supporting it. The House also passed the bill in the last Congress, but it didn’t advance to the Senate.

However, corporate endorsements of the bill have more than doubled since the House first passed the act in 2019, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

“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,” says HRC President Alphonso David. “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.”

David continues, “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.”