Missouri Momentum: Execs from Time Warner, T-Mobile, Starwood, & Others Call for Defeat of SJR 39

Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organisation, announced that executives from Time Warner Cable, T-Mobile US, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Etsy, Zynga, and others have signed onto an open letter now including over 60 major CEOs and business leaders urging lawmakers to stop the discriminatory Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 39 from moving forward. SJR 39 would lead to a ballot measure that proposes to allow individuals, organizations, and businesses to use religion as an excuse to discriminate against LGBT people.

The updated letter addressed to Missouri House of Representatives Speaker Todd Richardson, which was originally released on April 13, 2016, can be found here and below.

“Missourians don’t want to see us go back to a time when people could be turned away and discriminated against just because of who they are, or what they look like,” said HRC President Chad Griffin in announcing the open letter. “The vast majority of Americans believe laws like these — which are designed to make LGBT people second-class citizens in their own homes, schools and communities — are wrong. That’s why CEOs of some of the largest companies in Missouri and America are speaking out against SJR 39 today. Not only would this bill hurt their employees and their consumers, they know it would also be terrible for business and Missouri’s economy.”

SJR 39 goes far beyond protecting the right of free exercise of one’s religion. While shrouded in language framed as prohibiting the state government from making funding or tax status decisions based on an organisation’s views on marriage that are driven by religious belief, in reality it opens the door to discrimination against same-sex couples, their families, and those who love them.

The legislation could have reckless intended and unintended consequences. If voted into law, LGBT people and their families could suddenly find themselves at risk of being denied many basic services. Businesses could refuse to provide goods or services to same-sex couples. Taxpayer-funded foster care providers and adoption agencies could refuse to place children in need of loving homes with same-sex couples. Taxpayer-funded homeless shelters could turn away LGBT couples and their families. The measure could also undermine existing LGBT non-discrimination protections passed at the local level, including in cities like Columbia, Kansas City, and St. Louis.

In addition to the major CEOs and business leaders signing onto this letter, the discriminatory proposal has received widespread condemnation from fair-minded Missourians and businesses throughout the state, including Governor Jay Nixon, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the St. Louis Regional Chamber, Dow Chemical Company, and Monsanto. The St. Louis Regional Chamber said the proposal is “counter to MO values & will have negative economic consequences.” Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have also spoke out against the resolution.

Despite a historic filibuster by Senate Democrats attempting to stop the anti-equality majority from moving the resolution forward, the Senate passed the measure in early March, and it is now pending consideration in the House of Representatives.

The discriminatory measure addresses no real problem in the state as no federal or state law requires religious organizations or clergy to sanction or perform same-sex marriages.

The full letter from major CEOs and business leaders states:

Dear Speaker Richardson,

We write with concerns about legislation your chamber is currently considering, SJR 39, which would place on the statewide ballot, a constitutional amendment that would allow individuals, religious organizations and private associations to use religion to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Missourians in some of the most important aspects of their lives, including at work, at schools, in their family life and more. Put simply, SJR 39 is not an initiative that reflects the values of our companies.

We were disappointed to see the Senate pass this discriminatory legislation. The business community, by and large, has consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that such laws are bad for our employees and bad for business. This is not a direction in which states move when they are seeking to provide successful, thriving hubs for business and economic development. We believe that SJR 39 will make it far more challenging for businesses across the state to recruit and retain the nation’s best and brightest workers and attract the most talented students from across the country. It will also diminish the state’s draw as a destination for tourism, new businesses, and economic activity.

Discrimination is wrong, and we believe it has no place in Missouri or anywhere in our country. As companies that pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming to all, we strongly urge you to work to ensure this bill is not brought to the ballot.

Sincerely,

Laura Alber, President and Chief Executive Officer, Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
Brandee Barker, Cofounder and Partner, Pramana Collective
Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce
Chip Bergh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Levi Strauss and Co.
Michael Birch, Founder, The Battery
Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa, co-CEOs, Warby Parker
Steven Boal, CEO, Quotient
Craig Bromley, President, John Hancock Financial
Wes Bush, Chairman, CEO and President of Northrop Grumman
Lloyd Carney, CEO, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Founder and CEO, Joyus
Amy Chang, CEO, Accompany
Alex Constantinople, CEO, The OutCast Agency
Chad Dickerson, CEO, Etsy
Amy Erret, Founder and CEO, Madison-Reed
Jared Fliesler, General Partner, Matrix Partners
Jennifer Fonstad, Cofounder and Managing Partner, Aspect Ventures
Joe Gebbia, Cofounder and CPO, Airbnb
Jason Goldberg, Founder, Pepo
Peter T. Grauer, Chairman, Bloomberg L.P.
Julia Hartz, Cofounder and President, Eventbrite
David Hassell, CEO, 15Five
Robert Hohman, Founder and CEO, Glassdoor
Drew Houston, CEO, Dropbox
Laurene Powell Jobs, Founder and Chair, Emerson Collective
Steve Joyce, President and Chief Executive Officer, Choice Hotels International, Inc.
David Karp, Founder and CEO, Tumblr
Travis Katz, CEO, Gogobot
Albrecht Kissel, President, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica
Kees Kruythoff, President, North America, Unilever
Brian Krzanich, CEO, Intel
Sarah Leary, Cofounder, Nextdoor
Aileen Lee, Founder and Managing Partner, Cowboy Ventures
John Legere, President & CEO, T-Mobile US
Max Levchin, CEO, Affirm, Inc.
Aaron Levie, CEO, Box
Dion Lim, CEO, NextLesson
Andrew N. Liveris, CEO and Chairman of the Board, The Dow Chemical Company
Joe Lonsdale, General Partner, 8VC
Tom Mangas, CEO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
Rob Marcus, Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable
Melody McCloskey, Founder, StyleSeat
Dr. Nathan Myhrvold, Founder and CEO, Intellectual Ventures
Christopher J. Nassetta, President & Chief Executive Officer, Hilton Worldwide
Lorrie Norrington, Operating Partner, Lead Edge Capital
Bob Page, Chairman and CEO, Replacements, Ltd.
Sunil Paul, Founding Partner, Spring Ventures
Michelle Peluso, CEO, Gilt
Mark Pincus, Founder and Executive Chairman, Zynga
Kevin Ryan, Founder and Chairman, AlleyCorp
Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, Consumer Technology Association
Tom Sheahan, CEO, Red Oxygen
Arne Sorenson, President and CEO, Marriott International
Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO, Yelp
Christopher J. Swift, Chairman and CEO, The Hartford
Brian Tippens, Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
David Tisch, Managing Partner, BoxGroup
Nirav Tolia, Cofounder and CEO, Nextdoor
Anne Wojcicki, CEO, 23andMe
Robert Wolfe, CEO, CrowdRise
Emanuel Seth Yekutiel, CEO, ESY Strategies
John Zimmer, Cofounder and President, Lyft

Photo By אנדר-ויק (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons