Image by Janet Reddick from Pixabay
Apple and a number of tech companies are making an appeal to states enacting anti-LGBTQ+ laws across the country. The short version: knock it off.
9 to 5 Mac highlights a report from The Texas Tribune. That had a number of companies, including Apple, Google, IBM, and Meta, signing a letter coordinated by the Human Rights Campaign asking Texas Governor Greg Abbott to knock it off. 9 to 5 Mac says Abbott:
…authorized investigations of families who “allow transgender kids to receive gender-affirming care.” Additionally, Texas and Abbott have a history of other pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and anti-women’s rights legislation.
Because - you know… small government or something.
Quoting part of the letter signed by the companies:
The recent attempt to criminalize a parent for helping their transgender child access medically necessary, age-appropriate healthcare in the state of Texas goes against the values of our companies… This policy creates fear for employees and their families, especially those with transgender children, who might now be faced with choosing to provide the best possible medical care for their children but risk having those children removed by child protective services for doing so.
We call on our public leaders — in Texas and across the country — to abandon efforts to write discrimination into law and policy… It’s not just wrong, it has an impact on our employees, our customers, their families, and our work.
Ahead of the letter, which ran as a full-page ad in The Dallas Morning News on Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted a message to Twitter, saying:
As a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, I am deeply concerned about laws being enacted across the country, particularly those focused on our vulnerable youth. I stand with them and the families, loved ones, and allies who support them.
