海角大神

鈥淭here鈥檚 something very dangerous happening in states across the country,鈥� wrote Tim Cook, Apple鈥檚 chief executive officer, in a on Sunday.

Mr. Cook, who as gay last October, expressed dissatisfaction with the 鈥渨ave of legislation鈥� that has, in the name of religious freedom, essentially made it legal to discriminate against people because of sexual orientation.

Since the Supreme Court ruled on the Hobby Lobby case last year, which concluded that freedom of religion extends to corporations, there has been a growing number of 鈥�religious freedom laws鈥� adopted across the country. But the laws have faced mounting criticism.聽

Last Thursday, Republican Gov. Mike Pence signed Indiana鈥檚 Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law, which has faced the most backlash of the in other states.

Celebrities, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and businesses, big and small, have condemned the laws. Angie鈥檚 List CEO Bill Oesterle even went as far as to halt the expansion of its Indiana headquarters until the 鈥渋mplications鈥� of the laws on 鈥渃urrent and future employees鈥� were better understood.

While Wal-Mart and the NCAA are new players to the LGBT equality game, Apple and the rest of Silicon Valley have long been supporters of gay right. The 鈥渉eart of innovation鈥� has been a vocal advocate for marriage equality since Proposition 8 stole headlines during the California election.

That year, top executives from Apple, Google, Yahoo, Adobe, eBay, Intuit, Cisco, Facebook, and more came out in public opposition to the California ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to forbid the marriage of same-sex couples. The tech industry helped push the campaign against Prop. 8, buying in The San Jose Mercury News that read, 鈥淪ilicon Valley Leaders Urge You to Stand for Equality.鈥�

Brendan Eich, the co-founder of Mozilla, learned the hard way what happens when you go against the 鈥渙pen-minded鈥� image of Silicon Valley. Years after Prop. 8 passed, Mr. Eich faced major blow back from the Mozilla community when it was revealed that he had donated $1,000 in support of Proposition 8. The pressure was so great that Eich decided to step down after two weeks in his CEO position.

Data scientist broke down the financial donations for and against Proposition 8 in Silicon Valley, finding that Eich was part of a very small 17-percent minority of those within major tech companies who donated in support of the legislation.

Google and Apple have been two of the biggest advocates for gay rights. Both tech giants lent their names to a list of 379 American businesses voicing their support of gay marriage in a 鈥渇riend-of-the-court鈥� brief to the Supreme Court as the issue heads to the Supreme Court in April.

in Silicon Valley have also become an integrated part of San Francisco鈥檚 Gay Pride parade. Netflix, Facebook, Google, and Apple are all familiar faces at the colorful event, each sporting a variety of sparkling floats and cutesy equality tech jargon.

As with many things, Silicon Valley has been ahead of the curve with LGBT rights, even as the industry struggles with its boy鈥檚 club image.

But the most important aspect to Silicon Valley fighting for equality rights, as Cook pushed for readers to understand, is that discrimination is simply bad for business.

鈥�America鈥檚 business community recognized a long time ago that discrimination, in all its forms, is bad for business,鈥� Cook wrote. 鈥淔rom North Carolina to Nevada, these bills under consideration truly will hurt jobs, growth and the economic vibrancy of parts of the country where a 21st-century economy was once welcomed with open arms.鈥�