UPDATE, 12:05 PM with Open Road statement: Bob and Harvey Weinstein have joined the CEOs of more than 80 major corporations – including Google, Apple, You Tube, Yahoo and Microsoft – who have signed a letter urging the governor of North Carolina to rescind an anti-gay bill he recently signed (see the letter in full below). None of the companies threatened to pull out of the state, but that could be next. The Weinstein Company’s TV series Six, based on the exploits of Navy SEALs Team Six, is currently filming there.
The legislation, House Bill 2, eliminated existing municipal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people and prevents such protections from being passed by the state’s cities in the future. The legislation also forces transgender students in public schools to use restrooms and other facilities inconsistent with their gender identity, and compels the same type of discrimination against transgender people to take place in state buildings, including in public universities. The bill was passed in a hurried, single-day session Wednesday, and was signed in to law that night by Gov. Pat McCrory.
The new law will almost certainly face a court challenge, and the state’s attorney general, Roy Cooper, said at a press conference today he won’t defend it, calling it unconstitutional. “Over the last 15 years, our office has defended the state, its officials and agencies when they’ve been sued,” he said. “Our office will continue to do that, except it will not defend the constitutionality of the discrimination in House Bill 2.”
Recent Comments
The governor and the legislature, he said, “should repeal this law. Repeal will save needless litigation costs and will begin to repair our national reputation.”
Other Hollywood entities have since weighed in against the law, from Rob Reiner to most recently Open Road Films, which sent a statement today: “Open Road Films denounces North Carolina’s recent passage of NC House Bill 2,” a spokeswoman said. “This law is blatantly discriminatory and counter to the values our company holds dear. We stand firmly with the citizens of North Carolina and across the nation who oppose this disgraceful law.”
The CEOs’ letter, which was delivered to the governor’s office March 29 by representatives from the Human Rights Campaign and Equality NC, which organized the effort. HRC was behind a similar letter to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal before he vetoed similar legislation on his desk last week.
Here’s the letter:
Dear Governor McCrory,
We write with concerns about legislation you signed into law last week, HB 2, which has overturned protections for LGBT people and sanctioned discrimination across North Carolina. Put simply, HB 2 is not a bill that reflects the values of our companies, of our country, or even the overwhelming majority of North Carolinians.
We are disappointed in your decision to sign this discriminatory legislation into law. 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. This is not a direction in which states move when they are seeking to provide successful, thriving hubs for business and economic development. We believe that HB 2 will make it far more challenging for businesses across the state to recruit and retain the nation’s best and brightest workers and attract the most talented students from across the nation. It will also diminish the state’s draw as a destination for tourism, new businesses, and economic activity.
Discrimination is wrong and we believe it has no place in North Carolina or anywhere in our country. As companies that pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming to all, we strongly urge you and the leadership of North Carolina’s legislature to repeal this law in the upcoming legislative session.
Sincerely,
Karen Appleton, Senior Vice President, Box
Brandee Barker, Cofounder, The Pramana Collective
Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce
Chip Bergh, President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.
Michael Birch, Founder, Blab
Ed Black, President and CEO, Computer & Communications Industry Association
Nathan Blecharczyk, Cofounder and CTO, Airbnb
Steven R. Boal, CEO, Quotient Technology Inc.
Lorna Borenstein, CEO, Grokker
Brad Brinegar, Chairman and CEO, McKinney
Lloyd Carney, CEO, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
Brian Chesky, CEO, Airbnb
Ron Conway, Founder and Co-Managing Partner, SV Angel
Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
Dean Debnam, Chairman and CEO, Workplace Options
Jack Dorsey, CEO, Square and Twitter
David Ebersman, Cofounder and CEO, Lyra Health
Jared Fliesler, General Partner, Matrix Partners
Joe Gebbia, Cofounder and Chief Product Officer, Airbnb
Jason Goldberg, CEO, Pepo
Alan King, President and COO, Workplace Options
Kristen Koh Goldstein, CEO, BackOps
Mitchell Gold, co-founder and chair-man, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
John H. Graham IV, President and CEO, American Society of Association Executives
Logan Green, CEO, Lyft
Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
David Hassell, CEO, 15Five
Charles H. Hill III, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Human Resources, Pfizer Inc.
Reid Hoffman, Chairman, LinkedIn
Robert Hohman, Cofounder & CEO, Glassdoor
Drew Houston, CEO, Dropbox
Chad Hurley, Cofounder, YouTube
Dave Imre, Partner and CEO, IMRE
Dev Ittycheria, President & CEO, MongoDB
Laurene Powell Jobs, President, Emerson Collective
Cecily Joseph, VP Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer, Symantec Corporation
David Karp, Founder and CEO, Tumblr
Travis Katz, Founder and CEO, Gogobot
Brian Krzanich, CEO, Intel
Joshua Kushner, Managing Partner, Thrive Capital
Max Levchin, CEO, Affirm
Dion Lim, CEO, NextLesson
Shan-lyn Ma, CEO, Zola
Marissa Mayer, President and CEO, Yahoo
Melody McCloskey, CEO, StyleSeat
Douglas Merrill, CEO, Zestfinance
Dyke Messinger, President and CEO, Power Curbers Inc.
Hari Nair, Vice President and General Manager, Orbitz.com & CheapTickets.com
Michael Natenshon, CEO, Marine Layer
Alexi G. Nazem, Cofounder and CEO, Nomad Health
Laurie J. Olson, EVP, Strategy, Portfolio and Commercial Operations, Pfizer Inc.
Bob Page, Founder and CEO, Replacements, Ltd.
Michelle Peluso, Strategic Advisor and former CEO, Gilt
Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google
Mark Pincus, Founder and Executive Chairman, Zynga
Hosain Rahman, CEO, Jawbone
Bill Ready, CEO, Braintree
Evan Reece, CEO, Liftopia
Stan Reiss, General Partner, Matrix Partners
John Replogle, CEO, Seventh Generation
Virginia M. Rometty, Chairman, President and CEO, IBM Corporation
Dan Rosensweig, CEO, Chegg
Kevin P. Ryan, Founder and Chairman, Alleycorp
Bijan Sabet, General Partner, Spark Capital
Julie Samuels, President, Engine
George A. Scangos, PhD, CEO, Biogen
Dan Schulman, President and CEO, PayPal
Adam Shankman, Director and Producer
Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, Consumer Technology Association
David A. Shaywitz, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, DNAnexus
Ben Silbermann, CEO, Pinterest
Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft
Arne Sorenson, President and CEO, Marriott International
David Spector, Cofounder, ThirdLove
Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO, Yelp
Bret Taylor, CEO, Quip
Todd Thibodeaux, CEO, CompTIA
David Tisch, Managing Partner, BoxGroup
Nirav Tolia, Cofounder and CEO, Nextdoor
Kevin A. Trapani, President and CEO, The Redwood Groups
Ken Wasch, President, Software & Information Industry Association
Bob & Harvey Weinstein, Co-Founders and Co-Chairmen, The Weinstein Company
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook
How many of these companies continue to do business in China?
And China has far worse civil rights violations than North Carolina. Where was the outrage from these companies at the news this week that Chang Ping’s two brothers and a sister have been abducted by the Chinese government?
Seriously? China is worse is your battle cry? Stop talking, please.
How many countries does the US ignore their human rights abuse and are considered allies? Many. Get off your high hypocritical horse.
Yes, because there’s hypocrisy, and then there’s politically-correct hypocrisy, and the latter is perfectly okay. According to Hollywood.
So you’re suggesting we should prioritize human rigrights in other countries over in the USA?
Oh gee…The Weinsteins! Well they aren’t politically biased in the least…right?!
I mean practically their whole film slate caters to gay and trans-themed films, and it seems like all they do is hoat Hillary and Obama fundraisers.
Point is – if Weinsteins boycott something…it must be a positive individual or policy behind it!
Of course they are politically biased–just like you, just like those who originated the legislation, just like everyone on the planet. In this case they happen to be right–if you are a supporter of Democracy.
You are a peach, who’s life view was described in one sentence. Bravo.
If Google wants to see this thing repealed, they should cancel their planned Google Fiber roll-out in Raleigh/Durham.
The funny thing is some of those names on the letter have donated money to the politicians who voted in favor of the law.
Name them and then we’ll proceed with the funny.
Stay strong North Carolina. Defend the rights of women and children who feel uncomfortably with Hollywood’s socialist agenda. They are people too.
Yep, stay strong NC, you can take back America… to 1854. And by the way, what on earth does any of this have to do with socialism? I know that term gets trotted out endlessly by the right as if it were a curse word, but this issue has literally nothing to do with socialism.
@Tamara Sampson — Most Americans believe that it is wrong to discriminate against gay men and lesbians. In fact, about 60% of Americans support same sex marriage (according to the two most reputable polling organizations in the country, Gallup and the Pew Research Center). Furthermore, in Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996), the US Supreme Court, by a lopsided majority, held an amendment to the Colorado state constitution (“Amendment 2”) similar to H.B.2 to be grossly unconstitutional (the Court held that it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment)l So your call to “stay strong” is nothing less than a call to endorse bigotry and unconstitutional discrimination.
The Court held that Amendment 2 was a reflection of “animus” (i.e., hatred or dislike) against gay Coloradans — and held that “a bare [governmental] desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot constitute a legitimate governmental interest” (United States Department of Agriculture v. Moreno, 413 U.S. 528 (1973)).
H.B.2 will be overturned by the courts. A lawsuit has already been filed in US District Court requesting that the Court strike the law under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983. Almost all legal scholars believe that this law will be overturned, further blemishing the reputation of the state of North Carolina (if, indeed, this is possible at this juncture).
PHILIP
Yes! Will someone please think of the children! Please, lady. This is the most disgusting law since segregation. Nice to see North Carolina is continuing it’s proud past of oppression. What’s next? No interracial couples? Slavery? You people supporting this should be ashamed of yourselves!
Turing is just one example of a person who suffered huge discrimination during an earlier time in our history. Without him, the world would look quite different now—-we don’t need to go back to those days.
Alan Turing cracked the German Enigma code — a code so strong that the best cryptographers and linguists in England could not crack it — using one of the first computers (which he named Christopher, in honor of a dead classmate with whom he fell in love as a schoolboy). Had it not been for Turing, people now living in the U.K. could now be speaking German instead of the Queen’s English.
Following his incredible achievement, the British government persecuted him for being homosexual. After being forced to take female hormones for a year, he bit into an apple laced with cyanide, and died.
Sadly, there still remain many people in this country who wish that all gay men and lesbians would do the same. It is for this reason that we have an independent judiciary, and it is for this reason that our highest court handed down decisions such as Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996) and Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003).
PHILIP
Why does Hollyweird assume it can tell other people what to do? Isn’t that fascism?
Nope, that’s not fascism. Try a dictionary. Or a Trump rally.
@Chris Barker — If you had actually read the list of chairpersons and C.E.O.s who signed the letter to the governor, you would realize that massive corporations such as Microsoft and Yahoo all stand against his obscene measure, which has dragged the state of North Carolina backwards into the Dark Ages. While the rest of the country moves forward and embraces the diversity and richness of the American people as a whole (including this nation’s gay men and lesbians), the state of North Carolina now suffers from a self-inflicted black eye.
Far from being “fascism,” the position adopted by these signatories is one of revulsion towards a bare act of discrimination and un-American cruelty.
PHILIP
No, darling. Hollywood is an industry. See the difference?
No. It’s not facism. It’s actually a business taking advantage of the free market.
We,the people of N C do not accept invitations
to hell. All you people who have signed this atrocity and think you won’t pay a high price with your soul jump right on in the fire . As for me I stand fast on what I know to be true and right. You say it won’t really mean this or that it’s just to pacify these soul sell outs. You’re
not that sly and we’re not that stupid. It will mean exactly what is written on that document. It’s a no sell for those of us that stand on solid ground.
Hi Sherry, I have fought for everyones rights, US Army SF and SO, for over 20 years and yes that still includes Christians, even though liberals think they should be the only individuals with rights. And they can stomp on everyone else’s, for political reasons. Try spending your time woking on ISIS, which is cutting off the heads of both Christians and gays.
@Sherry Clark — The highest law on the United States is the Constitution of the United States, not the Bible, the Torah, the Qu’ran, the Vedas, the Sutras, or the Tibetan Book of the Dead. This is made explicit by Paragraph 2, Article VI of the Constitution (the Supremacy Clause). Furthermore, Article III vests in the US Supreme Court, and those additional inferior courts as Congress may ordain, the judicial power of the United States (see also Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803), in which a UNANIMOUS opinion, authored by Chief Justice Chase, established and validated the concept of judicial review).
The Supremacy Clause holds that the US Constitution is the paramount law of the land, state statutes and constitutional provisions notwithstanding. In other words, if a state statute or constitutional provision is repugnant to the US Constitution, it is the US Constitution which rules.
A lawsuit (Carcano v. McCrory) has already been filed in US District Court challenging the constitutionality of H.B.2. It is widely predicted that H.B.2 will be declared unconstitutional, in the same way that Colorado’s infamous “Amendment 2” (enacted in 1992) was held unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court in Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996). H.B.2 will be assigned to the trash heap of legislative enactments, further embarrassing the state of North Carolina, which has suffered a self-inflicted black eye.
PHILIP
I wonder why these fake Christians choose to ignore one of Jesus’ most insightful comments: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40 So why do they pick on “the least of these” … the minorities … and think they are being good Christians? It’s like anything else, they just use selected verses that prop up their hate. That’s too bad. Jesus always defended the minority … you remember his intervention with the hateful crowd that wanted to stone a woman and he rebuked them, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” John 8:7 So these Christians should listen to Jesus and not to the hate-monger Republicans.
@Jon Thomas — We see the same thing, over and over again, with respect to the Leviticus crowd. These people love to parrot Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, but they have no problems eating shrimp, wearing shirts made of two different fibers, eating the products of crop rotation, tolerating rebellious behavior from their children, and shaving their sideburns. In other words, they are “cafeteria Christians,” who accept only those portions of Leviticus which line up with their personal beliefs about homosexuality, whilst ignoring other proscriptions of Leviticus which are inconvenient for them (eating shrimp, for example, is an “abomination,” as is wearing clothing made of two different fibers).
The selectivity of their adherence to the prescriptions and proscriptions of Leviticus reveals them to be hypocrites of the first order.
PHILIP
keep your nose out of NC.
That’s exactly what they are doing. Refusing to do business in a state that enacted a measure making discrimination legal in NC. They are keeping their noses, and their wallets, out of NC, and NC can deal with the economic fallout. That’s called the free market. Wish granted.
The state has made their decision. If you don’t like it, don’t do business there.
How did the state make their decision when 1. it wasn’t on a ballet and 2. it was rushed through in 12 hours at the cost of $42,000 of tax payers money?
I love the moral hypocrisy at play here. Weinstein and the others wouldn’t even be filming in NC if they would just pay a living wage to those in their home state. You know support their friends and family and neighbors and community in their own backyard.
What happened to “love thy neighbor”? Aren’t LGBT people neighbors too?
And what about that document they’re always referring to, The Constitution and all the stuff about being equal rights and acceptance of all people? Isn’t N.C. in the United States? Beats the shit out of me…..