Big Business In Tennessee Side With Cristofascists

As AmericaBlog Gay is reporting, the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce - chaired by Nissan, and whose other board members include such companies as FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare all actively lobbied for a religious right bill in the Tennessee the purpose of which is to rescind Nashville's civil rights protections for gay and transgender citizens. But the bill goes even further: it bans every city in Tennessee from passing any civil rights laws, for anyone. It looks like I'll be canceling my Federal Express account today and selling some of the stocks I inherited from my late mother - FedEx being one of them. I also wish I'd know about Nissan's role - my daughter would be driving a different brand of vehicle. These corporations apparently feel free to show contempt for LGBT citizens. Well, that needs to be a two way street and the LGBT community needs to treat these companies with the same contempt that they demonstrate towards us. Please sign the petition to let these companies know that they will be paying a price. Here are some highlights on this corporate bigotry:
*
Nissan . . . FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare - actively lobbied for a religious right bill. The bill passed yesterday. It's on its way to the state's Republican governor for his signature, unless he vetoes it.
*
And these companies led the way in making it happen. And let me reiterate, these companies aren't just members of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce. These compares are all on the board of directors of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce. They run the TN Chamber.
*
Make no mistake, this was legislative gay-bashing at its worst. The legislation was crafted by the religious right in order to repeal Nashville's new ordinance protecting gay and trans residents from discrimination. Apparently not discriminating against their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees was just too much to ask from FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG. Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare. According to the TN chamber of commerce, of which they all sit on the board, abiding by such protections would be too much of an "additional burden." Really? It's now a burden to simply not discriminate against your own employees? I'm a lawyer, it's really not that complicated of legal advice. Simply don't discriminate against your employees. How complicated is that? So why would these companies, as board members of the TN chamber, permit their own organization to kill this gay and trans civil rights law?
*
And don't for a minute buy the chamber's excuse that this is about business, not prejudice. Every other minority is protected in the state under federal law. Gays and trans are not. The law was the idea of the religious right. The lead lobbyist on the law was the religious right. The only victim of the law was the LGBT community.