Apple CEO Tim Cook is speaking out against a slew of laws being introduced in states across the country, which Cook says are designed to "enshrine discrimination in state law."
Cook expressed these views in a lengthy op-ed in The Washington Post Sunday night, following the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana last week. The Indiana law makes it legal for businesses to refuse service to same-sex couples on the grounds of their religious beliefs. While Indiana's law has drawn the most attention, it is but one of many similar bills that have been proposed recently, all of which seek to prioritize some people's religious freedoms over other people's civil liberties. Another proposed bill in Texas, which Cook points out in his op-ed, would prohibit government workers from issuing same-sex marriage licenses or risk losing their salaries, pensions, and other benefits. Cook, who is the first openly gay CEO on the Fortune 500 list, writes that these laws are not only discriminatory, they're flat out "dangerous."
"These bills rationalize injustice by pretending to defend something many of us hold dear," Cook writes. "They go against the very principles our nation was founded on, and they have the potential to undo decades of progress toward greater equality."
As one of the world's most powerful business leaders, Cook argues that these laws threaten not just individual rights, but also the strength of the business community and the economy. "From North Carolina to Nevada, these bills under consideration truly will hurt jobs, growth and the economic vibrancy of parts of the country where a 21st-century economy was once welcomed with open arms," he writes.
Cook isn't the only prominent business executive speaking out on this subject. Last week, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff announced that the company was canceling all scheduled events in Indiana in protest of the new law. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman also condemned the laws in a blog post, and warned other states considering similar legislation that “Yelp will make every effort to expand its corporate presence only in states that do not have these laws allowing for discrimination on the books.”
Such strong opposition from the tech community doesn't guarantee that states will back down from the wave of discriminatory legislation that's washing over the country. Still, having some of the country's leading companies threaten to abstain from doing business within those states is certainly a powerful bargaining chip. Already, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, who signed the Religious Freedom Bill into law, says that he is working on ways to "clarify the intent of the law," so it is less overtly discriminatory.
Cook, for his part, has not gone so far as to refuse to do business within states where these laws exist. Instead, he reaffirmed Apple's commitment to openness, writing, "Apple is open. Open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love. Regardless of what the law might allow in Indiana or Arkansas, we will never tolerate discrimination."
The Apple executive also drew from his childhood growing up in the South during the 1960s. "The days of segregation and discrimination marked by 'Whites Only' signs on shop doors, water fountains and restrooms must remain deep in our past," he writes. "We must never return to any semblance of that time. America must be a land of opportunity for everyone."
