Momentum Continues: Verizon CEO, Leaders Sign On To Historic Tech Leaders Statement

Industry leaders join more than 120 tech innovators, including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo!'s Marissa Mayer, calling for nationwide LGBT non-discrimination protections

WASHINGTON - April 14, 2015 – Today, the Human Right Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, announced that Verizon's Chairman & CEO Lowell C. McAdam, Executive Vice President & President of Operations John G. Stratton, and Executive Vice President & President of Product Innovation & New Businesses Marni M. Walden added their names to a historic statement calling for comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBT people. The news comes as more than 100 anti-LGBT bills make their way through state legislators across the country. The leaders from Verizon join over 120 other prominent leaders in the tech industry who have taken the unprecedented stance of calling for an end to anti-LGBT legislation and for nationwide protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

"Today, Verizon executives join an overwhelming coalition of leaders from the tech world who are sending a clear message that states hoping to attract the high-tech jobs of tomorrow must guarantee their LGBT citizens and visitors are treated equally under the law," said HRC President Chad Griffin. "Discrimination is poisonous to a 21st century economy, and corporate America isn't willing to tolerate it, or half-measures to limit it, any longer."

Launched the beginning of April as the business community helped negotiate a measure to limit the damage of a new anti-LGBT law in Indiana, this call to action sends a clear message to legislators nationwide: laws must guarantee that no one faces discrimination and that everyone can live out their faith without fear of prejudice. Pressure from the business community also helped limit the damage of a new anti-LGBT bill in Arkansas and continues to shift the nation's and lawmakers' focus away from discriminatory and divisive policies towards passing comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBT people.

The full updated list of leaders is reflected below:

Joint Statement from Tech Industry Leaders

The values of diversity, fairness and equality are central to our industry. These values fuel creativity and inspiration, and those in turn make the U.S. technology sector the most admired in the world today.

We believe it is critically important to speak out about proposed bills and existing laws that would put the rights of minorities at risk. The transparent and open economy of the future depends on it, and the values of this great nation are at stake.

Religious freedom, inclusion, and diversity can co-exist and everyone including LGBT people and people of faith should be protected under their states' civil rights laws. No person should have to fear losing their job or be denied service or housing because of who they are or whom they love.

However, right now those values are being called into question in states across the country. In more than twenty states, legislatures are considering legislation that could empower individuals or businesses to discriminate against LGBT people by denying them service if it they felt it violated their religious beliefs.

To ensure no one faces discrimination and ensure everyone preserves their right to live out their faith, we call on all legislatures to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to their civil rights laws and to explicitly forbid discrimination or denial of services to anyone.

Anything less will only serve to place barriers between people, create hurdles to creativity and inclusion, and smother the kind of open and transparent society that is necessary to create the jobs of the future. Discrimination is bad for business and that's why we've taken the time to join this joint statement.

Sincerely,

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. HRC envisions a world where LGBT people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

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The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

Human Rights Campaign (HRC) seeks to improve the lives of LGBT Americans by advocating for equal rights and benefits in the workplace, ensuring families are treated equally under the law and increasing public support among all Americans through innovative advocacy, education and outreach programs. HRC works to secure equal rights for LGBT individuals and families at the federal and state levels by lobbying elected officials, mobilizing grassroots supporters, educating Americans, investing strategically to elect fair-minded officials and partnering with other LGBT organizations.

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