Executives from some of the globe's leading technology firms are demanding that Texas not adopt "discriminatory" bathroom legislation. On the table in Texas is a law similar to one enacted—and later partially repealed—in North Carolina. The tech companies have aligned themselves with critics of the bill who believe the legislation is unfair to the transgender community.
"As large employers in the state, we are gravely concerned that any such legislation would deeply tarnish Texas' reputation as open and friendly to businesses and families," the companies wrote Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. "Our ability to attract, recruit and retain top talent, encourage new business relocations, expansions and investment, and maintain our economic competitiveness would all be negatively affected."
Pending Texas Senate legislation would prohibit transgender people in Texas from using restrooms matching their gender identities. The House on Sunday passed its own bill that would apply the bathroom limitations solely at schools.
The tech companies, however, aren't threatening to pull out of Texas, like some did over the same issue in North Carolina. Payment processor PayPal, for example, announced a year ago it was scuttling a new global operations center in Charlotte in the wake of the state's legislation requiring that people use bathrooms that align with their gender listed on their birth certificates.
The letter sent to Gov. Abbott was signed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon chief Jeff Wilke, IBM head Ginni Rometty, Microsoft President Brad Smith, and Google's Sundar Pichai. There were 14 companies—including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Silicon Labs, Celanese Corp., GSD&M, Salesforce, and Gearbox Software—signing on to the letter.
"Discrimination is wrong and it has no place in Texas or anywhere in our country," the companies wrote.
The Texas Legislature adjourns for the session Tuesday, and there's talk that if a bathroom bill doesn't reach the governor's desk by then, Abbott may call for a special legislative session to pass the bill.
If adopted, Texas would become the only other US state, after North Carolina, to implement a "bathroom bill." Governors in Arkansas, Kentucky, and South Dakota have recently rejected legislative efforts over this type of law.
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