More than 200 American businesses have joined together to support an amicus brief filed Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to find that the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
But only seven companies, including five major corporations – AT&T Services, American Airlines, Match Group, Southwest Airlines and TPG Global – are headquartered or have primary business operations in Texas. Two smaller businesses, Caven Enterprises and Insala, also signed the brief.
All seven Texas companies are based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. None are headquartered in Houston, Austin or San Antonio.
No businesses in the oil and gas industry signed the brief supporting LGBT legal rights.
It is not known whether other Texas businesses declined to join the amicus brief or if they were even asked.
The brief is filed in a series of three cases scheduled to be argued at the Supreme Court on Oct. 8. Here is a link to the brief, which has a detailed explanation of the cases and the arguments.
There are several national companies with large operations in Texas – Amazon, Accenture, Bank of America, Citigroup, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Google, Hilton Hotels, JPMorgan Chase, Macy’s, PricewaterhouseCoopers and T-Mobile – that did sign the legal brief.
The friend of the court brief argues that discrimination against workers based on sexual orientation would “undermine the nation’s business interests” and denies millions of people “the opportunity to earn a living, excel in their professions, and provide for their families free from fear of unequal treatment.”