Big Companies, Including Google and Facebook, to Fight Trump Over Anti-Transgender Policies

Corporate America has delivered a stinging and emphatic rebuke of President Trump’s anti-transgender policy-making crusade. In an open letter published Thursday, 56 of America’s best-known companies, including Facebook, Google, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Ben and Jerry’s, and Microsoft vow to fight Trump’s anti-trans policies, including the recent suggestion that federal policy may be changed to define gender on the basis of one’s biological sex at birth. The companies “stand with the millions of people in America who identify as transgender, gender non-binary, or intersex, and call for all such people to be treated with the respect and dignity everyone deserves,” the signatories write.

“We oppose any administrative and legislative efforts to erase transgender protections through reinterpretation of existing laws and regulations,” they wrote. “We also fundamentally oppose any policy or regulation that violates the privacy rights of those that identify as transgender, gender non-binary, or intersex.” Flagging their own successes of forming equality-focused workplace policies, the companies state: “Transgender people are our beloved family members and friends, and our valued team members. What harms transgender people harms our companies. We call for respect and transparency in policy-making, and for equality under the law for transgender people.”