From the National Post:
When North Carolina’s legislature passed a law requiring transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex specified on their birth certificate, rather than their current gender identity, some of the protest was typical and expected. ...
But some of the most effective protest — the law may yet fail, for both legal and political reasons — came from less obvious quarters. Titans of corporate America, including executives with Google, Apple and Facebook openly voiced their disagreement with state-sanctioned gender discrimination. PayPal and Deutsche Bank cancelled expansion plans in Raleigh, for a combined 600 jobs. An unnamed technology company cancelled a planned 1,000 jobs, according to the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, which put the economic fallout from the law in the tens of millions of dollars, plus perhaps $5-million in lost tourism. ...
Together, these companies made a business case for equality on the tricky terrain of gender politics. There are many reasons. Partly this protest is an effort to protect brands whose value depends on acceptance by a younger and more progressive demographic. Partly it is to protect members of their own workforce and the political climate in which they live. Partly it forestalls government regulation of the same issues. And partly, perhaps, they felt it was the right thing to do.
The irony, of course, is that these corporations would have much less ability to influence North Carolina politics if the liberal opponents of Citizens United had gotten the law changed to limit corporate political activity.
