Several major U.S. executives urged the government of Mississippi on Wednesday to repeal a controversial law denies same-sex couples of wedding services on religious grounds.
According to Reuters, top executives from General Electric Co., PepsiCo Inc., Dow Chemical Co. and five other big US companies addressed an open letter regarding the law that was passed on Tuesday by Governor Phil Bryant. They condoned that the measure is discriminatory to the LGBT community residing in the state. The executives wrote that "The business community, by and large, has consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that such laws are bad for our employees and bad for business." They argued that it would make it more difficult to recruit and maintain good employees and this might diminish the state's draw as a probable destination for tourism, business and economic activities.
The call for repeal was started by gay rights activists, Human Rights Campaign, who are also supported by Levis Strauss & Co, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Whole Foods Market, Hyatt Hotels Corp and Choice Hotels International Inc.
The anti-gay law already proved to hit Mississippi and North Carolina with drastic backlash as reported by New York Times. Following the approval of the law, PayPal said it had dropped the plans to put global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina because of passing a law similar to Mississippi's. Other companies that raised objections in the state's decision are Tyson Foods, MGM Resorts International, Nissan and Toyota.
LA Times detailed that the law passed down by Governor Phil Bryant allows government employees to reject issuance of marriage licenses or perform marriage ceremonies. It also permits businesses and faith-based groups to deny housing, jobs, and foster care to people based on their sexual orientation.
The law dubbed as "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act" was already on hot water even before it was passed. Gay rights advocacy group, Freedom for All Americans, called the law "the nation's worst-piece of anti-LGBT legislation."
