Thank You Mark Benioff and Tim Cook

When Indiana’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” was passed and signed to allow discrimination against members of the LGBT community under the guise of religious freedom, I was really angry. Even in Arizona, which has been the leader in passing laws that make me mad, the governor had enough sense to veto their version of this law. Not so in Indiana.

The ACLU has been involved in every state, from Arizona to Indiana – to stop these types of laws from passing. The law itself is a backlash – or last-gasp – from a group of people who object to the idea of equality based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

We are making progress arguing that discrimination against LGBT people is illegal, so this cloak of religious freedom is being used to continue that discrimination under a new guise. These laws are similar to the Hobby Lobby decision, where the Supreme Court ruled that the religious beliefs of a closely held corporation allows discrimination against women by denying them contraception.

So when I read the comments by Mark Benioff and the op-ed by Tim Cook, I was really grateful that they both are speaking out. They did so promptly, forcefully, and in a way that appeals to our widely shared American values respecting freedom, equality, and our ability to live without discrimination.

As leaders of companies based in the Bay Area, their statements are enormously important in our community here, but also for the whole country and in the many states in which they employ people. These companies wield enormous power and influence in our economy, politics, and culture, so the statements by their leaders are extremely important. In a future post, I will talk more about what tech companies can do more of and better to further civil rights and equality – but today, I want to say thank you. Full stop.

I spoke this week to a group of ACLU supporters and shared my own view of why this Indiana law is so bad – and on two fronts.

First, it is an affront to our nation’s value of equality and the freedom to live without discrimination. To allow discrimination against a group, in this case LGBT people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, is not consistent with American values.

But second, and perhaps the point that we need to make sure doesn’t get lost in this debate, I object to these laws because they are an affront to our tradition of religious freedom. Religious freedom in our country means that we can each practice the religion of our choice (or no religion if we choose). 

There is a history between religion and discrimination. We shouldn’t discriminate against people because of their religion. And we shouldn’t allow religion to be a reason to discriminate.

Abdi Soltani is the Executive Director of the ACLU of Northern California.