Top firms decry religious exemption bills proposed in Texas

By CLARICE SILBER
March 27, 2019

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Some of the world’s biggest companies are back to oppose a range of new Texas legislation they say is discriminatory, two years after Apple, Facebook and other Fortune 500 companies banded together with gay rights activists in defeating the state’s “bathroom bill” targeting transgender people.

The corporate giants, which also include Google, Amazon, and IBM, joined Texas businesses and more than a dozen local chambers of commerce in a letter to lawmakers Wednesday urging the Republican-controlled Legislature to focus on other legislation.

“We will continue to oppose any unnecessary, discriminatory, and divisive measures that would damage Texas’ reputation and create problems for our employees and their families,” the letter said. “These include policies that explicitly or implicitly allow for exclusion of LGBTQ people, or anyone else, as well as the preemption of municipal nondiscrimination laws, in whole or in part.”

The bills under fire include several measures seeking to issue protections for those claiming religious belief in refusing services to certain people. One would safeguard medical professionals who decline to perform nonemergency treatment based on their religious convictions.

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