Apple is among more than 200 companies asking the Supreme Court to protect LGBTQ workers with current job non-discrimination laws.
The companies signed onto a “Friend of the Court” brief for three cases the high court is scheduled to hear this fall.
Two of the cases include claims that employers discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation. The third will determine whether existing laws protect transgender workers.
Other companies in support of LGBTQ workers include Amazon, Adobe, Dropbox, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, SalesForce, Uber and Lyft.
The 206 companies on the brief represent seven million employees that churn out $5 trillion in annual revenue, according to the news site Axios.
The brief, which you can read in its entirety here, argues that non-discrimination policies benefit the workplace and the greater economy.
“By confirming that sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination are prohibited under Title VII, this Court would remove an artificial barrier that restricts the free flow of resources, ideas, and capital,” the brief reads in part.
Apple, led by an openly gay CEO, has long championed the rights of the LGBTQ community. Its support is present in some of its products, like Pride bands and watch faces for Apple Watch, and in the throng of Apple employees who march in San Francisco’s annual Pride parade.
In 2017, Apple lent its name to an amicus brief backing LGBTQ rights in the case of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, according to Apple news site 9to5Mac.
