Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Bye Felicia, er, Georgia ....

With the state of Georgia on the precipice of legislating hate, masked as people using their Bibles to Hate The Gays, another company is following the lead of 373K and deciding not to do business with the state—see that post HERE.

This week Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff, who oversees 16,000 employees, announced that he will cancel upcoming company conference in Georgia if the governor, Nathan Deal, doesn’t veto a religious freedom law that just passed the legislature there.

Benioff Tweeted:
“[Once] again Georgia is trying to pass laws that make it legal to discriminate. When will this insanity end?”
And then he asked his twitter followers if Salesforce divest from Georgia if the bill is signed into law and over 805 said, ‘Yes.’ Shortly thereafter Salesforce released another statement: 
“If HB 757 is not vetoed and instead becomes law, Salesforce will have to reduce investments in Georgia, including moving the Salesforce Connections conference to a state that provides a more welcoming environment for the LGBTQ community.”
This isn’t the first time Mark Benioff protested legalized discrimination; he did the same thing in Indiana last year when that state tried to make the Baby Jeebus a reason to discriminate against The Gays. And he isn’t alone in Georgia; along with the aforementioned 373K, and it’s co-founder Kelvin Williams, Michael Dell and Richard Branson have also stated their opposition to Georgia‘s RFRA.

The good news is that Georgia’s governor, Nathan Deal, has also spoken out against the RFRA, and even used to Bible as his reason for not allowing faith-based discrimination. But if the House overrides Deal, look for more and more companies and more and more revenues, to be taken away from the state.

Can they afford the hate? I think not.

3 comments:

Say anything, but keep it civil .......