When big business meets social conservatism

Every so often, something happens that makes me cringe and question my love for the place I’ve called home these past four years. This is one of those times. The past few weeks have set off what New York Times columnist Frank Bruini calls, “The Republicans’ Gay Freakout.” Two weeks ago, the legislature here in North Carolina convened for a special session to pass the most extreme anti-LGBT law in recent memory, overruling an anti-discrimination ordinance in Charlotte and banning other local governments from passing similar measures. Our representatives also voted to mandate that all people in North Carolina use the bathroom that match their birth gender, an act that specifically and maliciously targets the transgender community. Then they decided to prohibit localities from enacting their own minimum wage laws.

Similarly, the Georgian governor vetoed the “religious liberty” bill HB 757 last week, which would allow organizations to deny jobs and services to LGBT individuals based on religious beliefs. The legislature has since called for a special session to override the governor’s action. And not to be outdone, just yesterday Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed into law HB 1523, which allows individuals—even if they are public employees—to refuse services to people if they believed providing them would violate their religious beliefs. These types of laws not anything new—similar measures failed in South Dakota and Tennessee just this past month. In just this year alone, more than 16 states have introduced some type of religious exemption legislation.

While backlash against liberal activists and lawmakers has always been strong, this most recent wave has brought a previously quiet stakeholder to the forefront: big business. Republicans have long positioned themselves as the business-friendly party, but after a slew of blatant anti-LGBT legislation, corporations are pushing back. When the N.C. bill was under consideration, major corporations including PayPal, Red Hat, Apple, IBM and American Airlines voiced their opposition to the law and indicated repercussions related to how these companies did business in the state, while the NBA put forth that such legislation would jeopardize the state’s chance of hosting the 2017 All-Star Weekend. PayPal has already followed through on its claims by announcing that it has eliminated plans to build a new 400-plus-employee global operations center in Charlotte. The CEO explained this decision was due to a law that clearly violated PayPal’s commitment to equality and inclusion.

When Georgia was considering its “religious liberty” bill, the state received similar backlash from businesses, with threats of boycott from major corporations like Disney, Marvel, Time Warner, Coca-Cola, Salesforce and more. Many believed that it was this economic pressure that compelled the governor to give a veto.

With other states set to consider bans on anti-discrimination ordinances, there is hope from activists and leaders that big business will be key in preventing such legislation from being enacted. It is not just activists that should be taking note of this trend, but Republican lawmakers too.

Since same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide almost a year ago, Republicans have fought hard to roll back rights for the LGBT community at the state and local level. As North Carolina and Mississippi show, such efforts sometimes do succeed. But escalating tensions between conservative values and business interests should force lawmakers to rethink such measures. How much will Republicans risk to appease their socially conservative base? The threat of losing federal funding has not been enough to sway action, and the efforts of major corporations have had varying levels of success. It is not enough to thwart legislation entirely, though, so perhaps it would also behoove lawmakers to remember that they are waging a war that is largely lost. Society is moving toward LGBT equality, and a few bumps along the way are not going to change that trajectory. There are so many more issues and problems legislatures should be spending their time on and public resources, and the right to bigotry is not one of them.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal—a Republican—put it perfectly when he explained his veto, “I do not think we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia.” No one should have a right to discriminate, not in North Carolina and not anywhere else. I hope businesses continue to voice opposition against laws that serve no purpose than to harm already marginalized groups.

Michelle Menchaca is a Trinity senior. Her column runs on alternate Wednesdays.