LGBTQ activists are demanding Amazon take a strong stance against anti-LGBTQ bills in Tennessee, where the company plans on opening an office for roughly 5,000 employees.
There are multiple bills being debated in the Tennessee state legislature right now that would allow broad-reaching anti-LGBTQ discrimination. Several bills introduced would allow adoption discrimination against gay couples and one targets trans people by threatening them with an indecent exposure charge if they use the public restroom correlated with their gender identity. With the “Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act,” the anti-LGBTQ legislative push in Tennessee is going so far as trying to challenge the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that made gay marriage legal in the U.S.
A group of activists started the “No Gay No Way” campaign to pressure Amazon into taking a public stance against anti-LGBTQ laws, as well as to follow through and only have offices in LGBTQ friendly states. Much of the campaign has been aimed at the public with billboards and print ads, but most recently the activists went directly to LGBTQ Amazon employees.
According to BuzzFeed News, the activists sent a letter to the Glamazons, an LGBTQ employee resource group at Amazon, asking them to do what they can to pressure management. The letter lays out all the bills currently being debated to restrict LGBTQ rights in Tenessee, as well as highlighting the discrimination that is already legal.
“The time is now to demand Amazon publicly condemn these anti-LGBT bills and fight to repeal existing state laws that discriminate against you and your families. Amazon has done this in Texas, and the threat in Tennessee is just as real,” said the letter. “For Amazon to be serious about LGBT rights, they should financially support the Tennessee advocacy groups fighting these bills, and they should put their own social and political capital to good use. Amazon has the power to make a difference.”
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H/T BuzzFeed News