The CEO and President of $25 billion international corporation NIKE has just come out denouncing Indiana’s anti-gay “religious freedom” law.
Mark Parker is the CEO and President of NIKE, the international sportswear corporation responsible for employing 44,000 people worldwide.Â
This evening in an exclusive statement to the Human Rights Campaign, Parker became the latest CEO to denounce Indiana’s anti-gay “religious freedom” law.
“NIKE proudly stands for inclusion for all. We believe laws should treat people equally and prevent discrimination,” Parker’s statement reads. “NIKE has led efforts alongside other businesses to defeat discriminatory laws in Oregon and opposes the new law in Indiana which is bad for our employees, bad for our consumers, bad for business and bad for society as a whole. We hope Indiana will quickly resolve this.”
HRC notes that “NIKE contributed to the campaign for marriage equality in Oregon and was among the first to establish non-discrimination protections for LGBT employees. NIKE received a perfect 100 percent score on HRC’s 2015Â Corporate Equality Index.”
Parker is in excellent company, literally.
Tim Cook, Apple, Inc.’s CEO has denounced the Indiana law several times.
CEO, founder, and chairman of $4 billion software firm Salesforce, Marc Benioff, for weeks has criticized the law, even before Gov. Pence signed it. He announced his company will “dramatically reduce” its investment in the state of Indiana as a result, and banned travel by employees to Indiana.
Gen Con, a $50 million annual gaming convention, Fortune 500 member Cummins, Eskenazi Health, Eli Lilly and Co., George Takei, Pat McAfee, Jason Collins, the mayor of Indianapolis, and the State of Indiana’s tourism board, among many, many others, have all come out against the anti-gay law.
Related:
Washington DC, New York State, West Palm Beach, Portland Latest To Ban Travel To Indiana
Final Four Duke University Releases Statement “Deploring” Indiana’s ‘Religious Freedom’ Law
NASCAR Becomes Latest To Denounce Indiana Anti-Gay ‘Religious Freedom’ Law
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