Corp. That Advocated Against Indiana ‘Religious Freedom’ Law Posts Beautiful Thank You Video

Salesforce, the $4 billion corporation that was one of the most vocal opponents of Indiana’s anti-gay “religious freedom” law just released this beautiful video thanking Hoosiers.

While it may feel like a long time ago, it was just a week-and-a-half ago that Governor Mike Pence signed the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law. For weeks before his stunningly, singularly stupid act, Salesforce, a $4 billion software firm that had just spent $2.5 billion buying a company in Indiana, had been working hard advocating against the anti-gay legislation.

CEO Marc Benioff and Scott McCorkle, the head of the Indiana-based subsidiary, were working behind the scenes and on social media, trying to get first lawmakers, and then Gov. Pence, to drop the “religious freedom” bill.

As the nation knows, they were unsuccessful – at first.

But the moment Pence signed the bill into law, Benioff announced he was canceling all employee travel into Indiana, and “reducing” his investment in the Hoosier state.

(To give you an idea of just how powerful a statement that was, our article, which was one of the first to report that news, garnered well over a half-million views.)

“We are forced to dramatically reduce our investment in IN based on our employee’s & customer’s outrage over the Religious Freedom Bill,” Benioff tweeted. 

He didn’t stop there. He met with lawmakers and Gov. Pence, and he also gave several interviews, telling reporters he was spending tens of thousands of dollars to relocate employees out of Indiana because they no longer felt safe living there.

Statements made by Apple CEO Tim Cook, NIKE CEO Mark Parker, along with 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, who all came out against the anti-gay law went far to get Gov. Pence to sign an amendment to “fix” the anti-gay law, but the intense and personal advocacy of Marc Benioff seemingly went further and was more effective than possibly any others.

Today, Salesforce released this beautiful video thanking Indiana.

The audio is none other than Harvey Milk, delivering his “Hope” speech.

Indiana hasn’t extended full protections to LGBT people, but thanks to Salesforce and all the corporations, small businesses, politicians, grassroots activists, and ordinary citizens, that genie is now out of the bottle, and it seems impossible an anti-discrimination bill won’t cross Gov. Pence’s desk during the next legislative session.

We can certainly hope, and act, to make it so.

Watch:

 

Image: Screenshot via YouTube