Tech Leaders Voice Support for Diversity & Anti-Discrimination

In separate moves, the tech industry has come out to voice its support of diversity and the passing of anti-discrimination laws in all the states.

Itself plagued with problems in diversity, Silicon Valley is determined to improve its image by addressing the lack of workplace diversity in the tech industry. In the recent Silicon Valley Diversity Brunch event in Palo Alto, CA, over 200 of the most powerful black leaders in Silicon Valley gathered en masse for the first ever Silicon Valley Diversity Brunch. They had come to discuss how to bring about change in an industry that has managed to keep minorities at an arm’s length for decades. Leaders from nearly every company of consequence, including Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Intel were in attendance. Read more:

In response to the passing of the RFRA in Indiana, which moved tech leaders to gather in support of gay rights, more than three dozen chief executives and other senior Silicon Valley leaders issued a joint statement on Wednesday, asking state legislatures to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to their civil rights laws, NY Times reports.[...] “Religious freedom, inclusion and diversity can coexist and everyone, including L.G.B.T. people and people of faith, should be protected under their states’ civil rights laws,” their statement reads. “No person should have to fear losing their job, or be denied service or housing because of who they are or whom they love.” Read more:

A similar bill in Arkansas seen as discriminatory to LGBTs was also the subject of protest: a national activist group took out a full-page newspaper ad -- in the heart of Silicon Valley, writes Michelle Quinn of Monterey Herald. She continues, The decision by the Human Rights Campaign to place the ad, with an enormous image of a sign saying Arkansas was closed for business "due to discrimination," is one of the latest signs of Silicon Valley's growing symbolic power for causes of all stripes. Read more:  

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