Discrimination against LGBT Americans is bad for business. That's the emphatic message more than 200 U.S. companies are delivering to the Supreme Court as it prepares to weigh in on the question of whether the Civil Rights Act protections around employer discrimination against employees on the basis of sex protects gay and transgender Americans.
Signers include Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Bank of America, Citibank, Coca-Cola, Facebook, General Motors, Google, Microsoft, and the Walt Disney Company. According to the brief, the signers "collectively employ over 7 million employees and comprise over $5 trillion in revenue."
"Businesses’ first-hand experiences—supported by extensive social-science and economic research—confirm the significant costs for employers and employees when sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination are not forbidden by a uniform law, even where other policies exist against such discrimination," the brief argues. "Nor is the patchwork of incomplete state or local laws sufficient protection."
You can read the full brief here.