Nike, Unilever urge Tennessee lawmakers to oppose anti-LGBTQ bills

Eleven major companies are urging Tennessee lawmakers to reject legislation they say would open the door to anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

In a letter released Tuesday through the Human Rights campaign, companies including Nike, Unilever, Hilton, Marriott, Lyft and Salesforce urged state lawmakers not to pass the bills.

{mosads}“The business community, by and large, has consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that bills that target LGBTQ people are bad for our employees and their families, bad for our customers and bad for business,” the companies wrote. “This is not a direction in which states move when they are seeking to provide successful, thriving hubs for business and economic development.”

The bills under consideration in the state legislature include a measure that would apply the state’s public indecency law to single-sex, multi-person bathrooms and changing rooms, which critics say is meant to target transgender Tennessee residents.

Another measure would allow child welfare agencies receiving taxpayer funds to refuse to place children in LGBTQ homes.

A coalition of LGBTQ groups last year applied similar pressure to Amazon, urging the online retail giant not to locate its second headquarters in a place that doesn’t already have LGTBQ anti-discrimination laws on the books.