Apple’s decision to open a new HQ in North Carolina is reportedly close to being a “done deal,” waiting only for the right incentives package to be passed.

But one potential spanner in the works could be the area’s history of anti-LGBT laws. Most infamous of these is the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, which made it law for people to use the public restrooms and changing rooms which correspond with their birth certificate sex, as opposed to their self-identified gender.

Apple has voiced its displeasure at a new Mississippi law that lets government workers and some private citizens refuse to sell goods and services to LGBT citizens on the basis of their religious beliefs.

“We want Mississippians to know that our stores and our company are open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love,” said an Apple representative, arguing that the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act “empowers discrimination.”

Apple was among a group of almost 400 companies which yesterday filed a so-called “friend of the court” brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that same-sex couples should have just as much of a right to marry as anyone else.

Interestingly, the brief doesn’t just focus on moral or ethical reasons that the Supreme Court should be on the right side of history, but actually makes a business case for the legalization of gay marriage; arguing that the confusing legality around the issue “places significant burdens on employers and their employees — making it increasingly hard to conduct business.”

Gay rights are the civil rights issue of our time, whether in the marriage chapel, the emergency room or the workplace.

That’s why Apple CEO Tim Cook’s decision to proclaim he is “proud to be gay” in a powerful personal essay is an important and truly historic act.