Marc Benioff, the chief executive of Salesforce.com, is rallying Silicon Valley to fight against an Indiana law that permits businesses to discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender on religious grounds.
Attention Tech CEOs/Industry: pay attn to what is happening in IN & how it will impact your employees & customers.
After Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed the bill, known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Benioff told Recode he cancelled all company events in the state and would do a slow rolling of economic sanctions.
Some tech leaders have followed. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, in a blog post, warned other states considering similar legislation.
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.
Max Levchin, a PayPal co-founder and CEO of Affirm, tweeted:
What is happening in Indiana is pretty unbelievable. However it s dressed up, it s a signal that discrimination is welcome in this state.
So far, the big tech dogs — Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon — have yet to weigh in.
Above: Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
