Washington, D.C. — This week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for its Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance, which bars employers from discriminating against transgender and gender-expansive employees by denying access to facilities like bathrooms and changing rooms consistent with their gender identities. Paxton pursued this lawsuit in spite of the widespread unpopularity of anti-LGBTQ legislation broadly across Texas and in the state’s business community in particular. Government watchdog Accountable.US called on corporations that claim to oppose discrimination to leverage their influence and condemn Paxton’s hateful lawsuit:  

“Bathroom bills don’t just hurt transgender Americans, they’re also bad for business. But for Attorney General Paxton, it appears that legalizing discrimination is worth threatening the safety of Texans and the state’s economy,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US. “All Texans deserve to work and attend school without fearing they’ll face harassment, bigotry, or violence. Any business that is serious about opposing discriminatory legislation and supporting the LGBTQ community has no excuse for not speaking out now against this hateful lawsuit.”  

Texas’ business community has come out strongly against anti-LGBTQ policies that “could hurt the state’s economy.” In April, a coalition of more than 1,400 corporate entities in Texas, including leading U.S. corporations like Amazon, Facebook, JPMorgan Chase, American Airlines, Salesforce, and Microsoft, and several local chambers of commerce and tourism bureaus, came out in opposition of anti-LGBTQ bills under consideration by the state’s legislature as part of Governor Abbott’s harmful agenda.  

This bigoted attack on transgender students, employees, and job applicants is just the latest in Paxton’s ongoing effort to obstruct the Biden administration’s efforts to make progress on key issues important to the American people. Learn more about his efforts, alongside other Republican attorneys general, at EnemiesofProgress.org 

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