Apple's Tim Cook, other executives urge Texas not to pass anti-trans 'bathroom bill'

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Executives from 14 companies such as Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and Google have sent a letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, asking him and the state legislature not to pass a bill that would block transgendered people from using bathrooms matching their gender identities.




"As large employers in the state, we are gravely concerned that any such legislation would deeply tarnish Texas' reputation as open and friendly to businesses and families," the executives wrote in a May 27 letter seen by The Dallas Morning News. "Our ability to attract, recruit and retain top talent, encourage new business relocations, expansions and investment, and maintain our economic competitiveness would all be negatively affected."

The letter was signed by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and leaders from Amazon, Cisco, Celanese, Dell, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, Silicon Labs, GSD&M, and Gearbox Software.

The Texas House and Senate have been battling over a proposed bathroom bill. On Friday, House Speaker Joe Straus refused to pass any such legislation. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, in charge of the Senate, then asked Abbott if he could keep lawmakers around until a bill is passed -- the current session is scheduled to end on Tuesday. Abbott has pushed for a compromise.

Apple has been one of the more vocal opponents of "bathroom bills" in the U.S., most notably North Carolina's HB2. In February, the company complained about President Donald Trump's withdrawal of guidelines covering use of public school bathrooms by transgender students.

The company has a significant presence in Texas, including a major campus in Austin dedicated to AppleCare and various other operations.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 84
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,928administrator
    FYI to forum participants. We're short-staffed given that today is a federal holiday. I will brook no nonsense about this, as I don't have time to pick through posts one at a time.

    If it starts getting hostile, the conversation will be nuked from orbit.
    dementuschikandysamoriajroylordjohnwhorfinSpamSandwichsdw2001fastasleep
  • Reply 2 of 84
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
    [Humorous comments have been omitted from post for fear that may be read in an unintended manner—but dammit they were funny.]
    edited May 2017
  • Reply 3 of 84
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 13,103member

    If it starts getting hostile, the conversation will be nuked from orbit.
    It's the only way to be sure. 😎
    tallest skilnetmagedysamoriajroylordjohnwhorfinfastasleep
  • Reply 4 of 84
    rotateleftbyterotateleftbyte Posts: 1,630member
    When I see Politicians doing this sort of thing, the old Yorkshire (God's own County) saying really rings true

    "There is nowt as queer as folk"

    by queer, they mean strange.
    Surely Texas has more important issues to legislate on than this?
    Hmmm. perhaps not.

    StrangeDayslordjohnwhorfin
  • Reply 5 of 84
    holyoneholyone Posts: 398member
    I don't mean to sound naive or careless, I live in a different country where this would be an odd discussion but, how is this even a problem, I get the point about identity, but aren't restrooms divided on mechanical lines ? As in you go to the bath room that matches you're equipment, in part boys stand and girls sit, no ?, I mean if I was a guy trapped in a girls body not being able to wiz standing up would bother me more than not being allowed in with the fellers no ?
    bsenkamonstrositysweetheart777
  • Reply 6 of 84
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
    holyone said:
    I mean if I was a guy trapped in a girls body not being able to wiz standing up would bother me more than not being allowed in with the fellers no ?
    But they don't want you to do #2 in the women's facilities. They also don't want you to be in the men's facilities dressed as a women.

    It's a choice to be gay so you should be able to choose to not use the bathroom (no logical errors there¡).


    PS: Did anyone of us grow up in a home with separate bathrooms for each sexes or did we just use the bathroom that were closest to? Over the past year I've seen many places around me switch their male and female placards on single-occupancy bathrooms to be for either sex… as it should be.
  • Reply 7 of 84
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 4,031member
    Soli said:
    It's a choice to be gay so you should be able to choose to not use the bathroom (no logical errors there¡).

    Choice? Seriously? That's a thoroughly retro and discredited view. Have you asked any actually gay people about this? It's not a hairstyle or car color. But I do agree with your other remarks. 

    Or or did I miss an overal sarcastic intent?
    edited May 2017 lordjohnwhorfin
  • Reply 8 of 84
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    If it starts getting hostile, the conversation will be nuked from orbit.
    Seriously, either put it in PO or nuke it now (it’s the only way to be sure!)
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 9 of 84
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
    Soli said:
    It's a choice to be gay so you should be able to choose to not use the bathroom (no logical errors there¡).

    Choice? Seriously? That's a thoroughly retro and discredited view. Have you asked any actually gay people about this? It's not a hairstyle or car color. But I do agree with your concluding remarks. 
    My feelings on the subject are the exact opposite of what I wrote.
     
    netmage
  • Reply 10 of 84
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 4,031member
    Thanks, Soli, I thought as much after posting and edited as such. Too bad sarcasm indicators aren't more singular and widely known and used. 
    Soli
  • Reply 11 of 84
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    A contractor i have known and worked with for over a decade is a trans person. I have never discussed the public bathroom with her mostly because we both live in New York City where people don't push religious beliefs on others especially when it comes to writing laws (state is really separate from church). Ignorance of something is where fear comes from and believing a trans person is will do anything different in a bathroom from everyone of us is an ungrounded fear. These tech companies are letting the legislators of Texas know that these discriminatory laws will have a negative impact on their state and it will be the people of Texas who will potentially lose high income employment and the state tax revenue. Considering how few trans people there are compared to the general population laws like this one are written to satisfy some people's need to attack and bully a minority. 
    jroylordjohnwhorfin
  • Reply 12 of 84
    libertyforalllibertyforall Posts: 1,418member
     This is out of control! Use the damn bathroom for the gender you were born as!    Isn't everyone tired of the scammers out there saying that they're a woman when they are really TS or TG?!   Enough is enough! 
    tallest skilbsenkamonstrositysweetheart777
  • Reply 13 of 84
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
     This is out of control! Use the damn bathroom for the gender you were born as!    Isn't everyone tired of the scammers out there saying that they're a woman when they are really TS or TG?!   Enough is enough! 
    No one is born a gender. Gender is a cultural construct. What you're thinking of is sex.

    Based on your comments I'm guessing you'd be unhappy if a male dressed as a woman came out of a bathroom for men, and yet you stated you seem to want that person to use the bathroom for men. Should we assume that you also want that person to dress in a way that makes you feel more comfortable regardless of how it makes them feel?

    What about naturally intersex individuals. Do they get no bathroom rights because they are born with both male and female genitalia or are you saying that the percentage is so low that we can disregard their existence in society altogether because it doesn't fit into a neat the simple like construct that make us feel safe?
    edited May 2017 jroylordjohnwhorfinfastasleep
  • Reply 14 of 84
    AppleishAppleish Posts: 717member
    Texas, and other Trump-centric southern states, are in for a surprise when they turn blue, sooner than anyone thinks.

    Can't wait.


    jroylordjohnwhorfin
  • Reply 15 of 84
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Soli said:
    Gender is a cultural construct.

    If gender is a social construct, then there is no such thing as a “gender binary.” If this is true, how can one “transition” between “genders” or be “genderfluid?” If gender is a social construct and stereotypical gender binary “gender identities”–and the gender roles stereotypically assigned thereto–are entirely made up by an oppressive society for its own uses, why would “transgenders” want to take on, themselves, made up roles assigned to the nonexistent “gender” to which they are transitioning, and thus reenforce the system’s fake stereotypes of gender roles in the gender binary? By this “logic”, a man can act like a man but claim that he is a woman and feel no need in “transitioning”, and everyone must accept it. IT’S MENTAL ILLNESS.

    “Gender” is the concept popularized by psychologist John Money, who conducted immoral human experiments on children. David Peter Reimer was a Canadian boy, sexually reassigned as a female after his penis was destroyed during circumcision. John William Money was a psychologist and author, specializing in research into sexual identity and biology of gender. He persuaded Reimer’s parents that sex reassignment surgery was in David’s best interest. David’s testes were removed and he was assigned the name Brenda. Money saw David annually for roughly a decade for consultations and to assess the outcome of the surgery and societal reassignment. As this case had a control in the form of David’s twin brother Brian, Money sought to validate his claims that gender was exclusively a societal identity.

    Reimer said that Money forced the twins to rehearse sexual acts involving “thrusting movements”, with David on the bottom. Reimer said that, as a child, he had to “get down on all fours” with his brother “up behind his butt” with “his crotch against his buttocks”. Money forced him, in another sexual position, to have his “legs spread” with Brian on top. Money also forced the children to “take their clothes off” and engage in “genital inspections”. On “at least one occasion,” Money photographed the children doing these activities. Money’s rationale for this was his belief that “childhood ‘sexual rehearsal play’ was important for a healthy adult gender identity.”

    Notes by a former student at Money’s lab state that Reimer’s parents lied to lab staff about the success of the procedure. Brian Reimer developed schizophrenia. In David’s own account, he did not identify as a girl. He was ostracized and bullied by peers, and neither the frilly dresses he was forced to wear nor the estrogen he was forced to inject made him feel female. By the age of 13, Reimer experienced suicidal depression, and he told his parents he would commit suicide if they made him see Money again. His parents told him the truth about his gender reassignment, and at 14 he reassumed his male identity, calling himself David. He underwent testosterone injections, and double mastectomy, and two phalloplasty operations. David told his story to sexologist Milton Diamond in order to dissuade physicians from treating other infants similarly.

    The brothers ended up killing themselves and Money not only got away with it by blaming right-wingers, but he also got all the accolades and recognition from other degenerate leftists within the field of psychology. This is the foundation of the ideology. Genders studies is based in a ludicrous sick lie created and approved by a lone pedophile psychologist and spread by the mentally unstable. For the first 30 years after Money’s initial report that the reassignment had been a success, his view on the “malleability” of gender became the dominant viewpoint among physicians and doctors, reassuring them that sexual reassignment was the correct decision in certain instances, resulting in thousands of sexual “reassignments.”

    allmypeoplespacekidmacseeker[Deleted User]SpamSandwichsweetheart777
  • Reply 16 of 84
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,940member
    Soli said:
    holyone said:
    I mean if I was a guy trapped in a girls body not being able to wiz standing up would bother me more than not being allowed in with the fellers no ?
    But they don't want you to do #2 in the women's facilities. They also don't want you to be in the men's facilities dressed as a women.

    It's a choice to be gay so you should be able to choose to not use the bathroom (no logical errors there¡).


    PS: Did anyone of us grow up in a home with separate bathrooms for each sexes or did we just use the bathroom that were closest to? Over the past year I've seen many places around me switch their male and female placards on single-occupancy bathrooms to be for either sex… as it should be.
    I'm not sure if you were just being serious or not there, but if not, it is not a choice. You don't just wake up one day and decide to be gay, or wake up one day and decide to start being straight (or even bisexual). From the sounds of your next comment I tend to think you weren't being serious. Part of the things about a forum is you can't always tell if the poster was serious or not. 

    I do agree with the last part of what you said though. I guess women are concerned that we'll piss all over the toilet seat or something. I'd personally just like to see multiple small personal bathrooms that any sex can use with maybe an open sink concept, rather than this open concept room thing with females going in one place and males next door. I don't really enjoy going to the bathroom with other people around me to be honest. I think that would pretty much solve this. 
    edited May 2017
  • Reply 17 of 84
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,046member
    A big part of the discussion of "business vs. government" with these sort of bills came to the forefront with North Carolina and several notable businesses either threatening to take their business elsewhere or actually boycotting NC. The brouhaha in Texas that may come of this may do the same. I can think of hundreds of other issues that may rise up to being polarizing issues. Eventually there will be nowhere left in the world to do business?
    spacekidsweetheart777
  • Reply 18 of 84
    spacekidspacekid Posts: 184member
    Soli said:
     This is out of control! Use the damn bathroom for the gender you were born as!    Isn't everyone tired of the scammers out there saying that they're a woman when they are really TS or TG?!   Enough is enough! 
    No one is born a gender. Gender is a cultural construct. What you're thinking of is sex.

    Based on your comments I'm guessing you'd be unhappy if a male dressed as a woman came out of a bathroom for men, and yet you stated you seem to want that person to use the bathroom for men. Should we assume that you also want that person to dress in a way that makes you feel more comfortable regardless of how it makes them feel?

    What about naturally intersex individuals. Do they get no bathroom rights because they are born with both male and female genitalia or are you saying that the percentage is so low that we can disregard their existence in society altogether because it doesn't fit into a neat the simple like construct that make us feel safe?
    Restrooms are currently constructed based on biology. Are urinals going to be required in all restrooms? What about someone claiming they're a third sex? Will governments and businesses be required to provide some facility for them? Where does it stop?
    tallest skilsweetheart777
  • Reply 19 of 84
    rotateleftbyterotateleftbyte Posts: 1,630member
     This is out of control! Use the damn bathroom for the gender you were born as!    Isn't everyone tired of the scammers out there saying that they're a woman when they are really TS or TG?!   Enough is enough! 
    If my half-sister did that in a redneck state she'd be lucky to get out alive. She's a male to female transsexual and finished her transition 10 years ago. She is legally a woman right down to a birth certificate, but had the misfortune to be born into a male body.
    She was a wreck as a person before she came out. Now she runs a very successful business ($20M revenue last year) because she can be herself. If this goes through she will add TX to the list of states that she can't travel to along with NC and OK.
    That is their loss not hers.

    dysamoriajroylordjohnwhorfinfastasleep
  • Reply 20 of 84
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,411member
    If this bill is anything along the lines of the NC bill, it probably is about more than just bathrooms. That law also included public changing rooms and lockers/showers (e.g., such as those in a gym in a public university).
This discussion has been closed.