Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness Urges Congress to Support of a Fully Inclusive ENDA
Coalition represents America’s leading businesses who have adopted non-discrimination policies to protect GLBT employees
WASHINGTON - The Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness sent a letter to Congress Thursday urging members to support an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that protects the entire gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The letter was signed by 52 major businesses and is part of an ongoing effort by the Human Rights Campaign to organize the business community behind a fully inclusive non-discrimination bill.
ENDA, which would ban workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, is in danger of being stripped of language protecting transgender workers. HRC has worked around the clock to advance the inclusive version of the bill. Last week, members of HRC’s Board of Directors and a group of citizen volunteers visited Capitol Hill to personally lobby for the original bill. To learn more about HRC’s efforts and to take immediate action online, visit: www.passendanow.org.
The Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness is comprised of more than 50 small businesses. It was formed in January following outreach by HRC and the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce to promote a fully inclusive bill.
A copy of the letter is available below:
October 11, 2007
Dear Members of Congress:
We the undersigned businesses, write to affirm our support for passage of an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that includes both sexual orientation and gender identity.
As members of the Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness, we represent America’s leading businesses that have already adopted non-discrimination policies to protect our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees. This point was highlighted in testimony presented before the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on September 5, 2007. Despite this progress, it is unsettling that a majority of GLBT workers in this country still do not enjoy workplace protections. The lack of such protections ultimately impedes our nation’s ability to compete in a global marketplace.
The principles which an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act fosters are consistent with our corporate values of treating all employees with fairness and respect. We encourage the Congress to pass this common-sense legislation.
Sincerely,
Accenture Ltd. New York, NY
Alberto -- Culver Co. Melrose Park, IL
Bank of America Corp. Charlotte, NC
Bausch & Lomb Inc. Rochester, NY
BP America Inc. Warrenville, IL
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. New York, NY
Capital One Financial Corp. McLean, VA
Charles Schwab & Co. San Francisco, CA
Chevron Corp. San Ramon, CA
Chubb Corp. Warren, NJ
Cisco Systems Inc. San Jose, CA
Citigroup New York, NY
Clear Channel
Communications Inc. San Antonio, TX
Coca-Cola Co. Atlanta, GA
Coors Brewing Co. Golden, CO
Corning Inc. Corning, NY
Deutsche Bank New York, NY
Diageo North America Norwalk, CT
Dow Chemical Co. Midland, MI
Electronic Arts Inc. Redwood City, CA
EMC Corp. Hopkinton, MA
Ernst & Young LLP New York, NY
Gap Inc. San Francisco, CA
General Mills Inc. Minneapolis, MN
General Motors Corp. Detroit, MI
GlaxoSmithKline Philadelphia, PA
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. New York, NY
Google Inc. Mountain View, CA
Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. Las Vegas, NV
Hewlett-Packard Co. Palo Alto, CA
HSBC -- North America Prospect Heights, IL
Integrity Staffing
Solutions Inc Wilmington, DE
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. New York, NY
Kaiser Permanente Oakland, CA
Lehman Brothers New York, NY
Levi Strauss & Co. San Francisco, CA
Marriott International Inc. Bethesda, MD
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. New York, NY
Microsoft Corp. Redmond, WA
Morgan Stanley New York, NY
Nationwide Columbus, OH
NCR Corp. Dayton, OH
Nike Inc. Beaverton, OR
QUALCOMM Inc. San Diego, CA
Replacements Ltd. McLeansville, NC
Robins, Kaplan, Miller &
Ciresi LLP Minneapolis, MN
Ryder System Inc. Miami, FL
Sun Microsystems Inc. Santa Clara, CA
Time Warner Inc. New York, NY
Travelers Companies Inc. St. Paul, MN
Washington Mutual Inc. Seattle, WA
Yahoo! Inc. Sunnyvale, CA
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.