House to Reintroduce ‘Equality Act’ Next Week, With Support of 161 Major Corporations

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced at a news conference on Thursday that the House would reintroduce the Equality Act next week. The legislation would guarantee explicit protections for LGBT people under existing civil rights laws.

The Washington Blade reports: ‘Pelosi said the Equality Act would be introduced in the same week as legislation intended to protect DREAMers, or young undocumented immigrants, and other immigrants from deportation in the aftermath of President Trump's revocation of their protections…Touting the new Democratic House majority's achievement in advancing background checks for gun purchases and government reform legislation, Pelosi also said legislation for women workers ensuring equal pay for equal work and reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act would come later this month.

161 businesses have joined the Human Rights Campaign's Business Coalition for the Equality Act, HRC announced today: “With a combined operation in all 50 states, headquarters in 26 states, more than $3.7 trillion in revenue, and more than 8.5 million employees across the United States, these companies know how important it is to have a federal legal standard that guarantees all employees the same rights and protections — no matter where they live.”

Said HRC President Chad Griffin: “The more than 160 leading American companies that have joined HRC's Business Coalition for the Equality Act are sending a loud and clear message that the time has come for full federal equality. By standing with the LGBTQ community and joining the fight to pass the Equality Act, these companies are demanding full federal equality for the more than 11 million LGBTQ people in this country who deserve to earn a living, raise their families and live their lives free from discrimination. These leading employers know that protecting their employees and customers from discrimination isn't just the right thing to do — it's also good for business.”

Major corporations in the HRC Business Coalition for the Equality Act include:

A.T. Kearney Inc.; Abercrombie & Fitch Co.; Accenture; Adobe Systems Inc; ADP; Advanced Micro Devices Inc.; Airbnb Inc.; Alaska Airlines; Alcoa Corp.; Ally Financial; Amazon.com Inc.; American Airlines; American Eagle Outfitters; American Express Global Business Travel; Apple Inc; Arconic; Ascena Retail Group Inc.; Aspen Skiing Company LLC; AT&T Inc.; Atlassian; Bain & Co. Inc.; Bank of America; Best Buy Co.; Biogen; Boehringer Ingelheim USA Corp.; Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.; Boston Scientific Corp.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.; Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc.; Brown-Forman Corp.; Caesars Entertainment Corp.; Capital One Financial Corp.; Cardinal Health Inc.; Cargill Inc.; Chevron Corp.; Chobani; Choice Hotels International Inc.; Cisco Systems Inc.; The Coca-Cola Co.; Corning Inc.; Cox Enterprises Inc.; CSAA Insurance Group; Cummins Inc.; CVS Health Corp.; Danone North America LLC; Darden Restaurants Inc.; Deloitte; Diageo North America; The Dow Chemical Co.; Dropbox Inc.; E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DuPont); Eastern Bank Corp.; eBay Inc.; EMC Corp.; Ernst & Young LLP; The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.; Evolent Health Inc.; Exelon Corp.; Expedia Group; Facebook Inc.; Food Lion; Gap Inc.; General Electric Co.; General Mills Inc.; General Motors Co.; Glassdoor Inc.; Google Inc.; The Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America; Gusto; HERE North America LLC; The Hershey Company; Hewlett Packard Enterprises; Hilton Inc.; HP Inc.; HSN Inc.; Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP; Hyatt Hotels Corp.; IBM Corp.; IHS Markit Ltd.; IKEA Holding US Inc.; Insight Enterprises; Intel Corp.; InterContinental Hotels Group Americas; Iron Mountain Inc.; John Hancock Financial Services Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Juniper Networks Inc., Sunnyvale, CA; Kaiser Permanente; Kellogg Co.; Kenneth Cole Productions; KPMG LLP; Levi Strauss & Co.; Lendlease Americas Inc.; Linden Research Inc.; Lyft Inc.; Macy's Inc.; Marriott International Inc.; MassMutual; MasterCard Inc.; Merck.; MGM Resorts International; Microsoft Corp.; Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams; Monsanto Co.; Moody's Corp.; Nationwide; Navient; Navigant Consulting Inc.; Nike Inc.; Northrop Grumman Corp.; Nuance Communications; Office Depot Inc.; Oracle Corp.; Patreon Inc.; Paul Hastings LLP; PepsiCo Inc.; Pfizer Inc.; Pinterest Inc; PNC Financial Services Group Inc.; Procter & Gamble Co.; Pure Storage Inc.; Qualcomm Inc.; Realogy Holdings Corp.; Replacements Ltd.; S&P Global Inc.; Salesforce; SAP America Inc.; Shire PLC; Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP; Shutterstock; Sodexo Inc.; Spotify USA Inc.; Square Inc.; Symantec Corp.; Synchrony Financial; T-Mobile USA Inc.; Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.; Target Corp.; Tech Data Corp.; TIAA; TPG Global LLC; TransUnion; Turner Construction Co.; Twitter Inc.; U.S. Bancorp; Uber Technologies Inc.; Ultimate Software Group Inc.; Under Armour Inc.; Unilever; Univision Communications Inc.; Visa; Warby Parker; Wells Fargo & Co.; WeddingWire Inc.; Whirlpool Corp.; Williams-Sonoma Inc.; Workday Inc.; Xerox Corp.; Yelp Inc.; Zillow Group.