Fighting back against discrimination in North Carolina

CREDO fights for equality and opposes discrimination in any form. We celebrated the city of Charlotte’s efforts to stand with transgender people and make their city more inclusive of all its residents. And in that same vein, we strongly condemn the actions of Governor Pat McCrory and the North Carolina legislators who used Charlotte’s bold action for equality as an opportunity to stoke anti-transgender fears, threaten the safety of transgender North Carolinians, and legislate hate and discrimination. This is unacceptable. Our country has no place for hateful, discriminatory laws.

CREDO is proud to be part of the nationwide opposition to this new discriminatory law in North Carolina. In recent weeks CREDO activists have been fighting back against legislative attempts all over the country to discriminate against transgender children. We are not going to give in to extremists’ fear mongering about transgender students and legitimize their segregation, humiliation, and isolation. We will continue to apply political pressure wherever it is needed to stand with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, their families and their communities.

We are proud of the intense and relentless activism of our customers and CREDO Action activists who have been fighting for equality for years. In just the last year, CREDO activists have submitted more than 330,000 petition signatures to push back against attempts to discriminate against LGBT people and to promote LGBT equality at the state and national level.

And thanks to CREDO’s mobile, long distance and credit card customers, CREDO has donated millions of dollars to groups fighting for LGBT equality like the National LGBTQ Task Force, Freedom to Marry, Courage Campaign, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Campaign and the ACLU. Our members make these donations possible.

HB 2’s passage in North Carolina shows that we still have a tremendous amount of work to do. This bill is fundamentally antithetical to our country, our shared values and our constitution. History will not be on the side of this obviously fear- and hate-based action. I hope and trust that corporate leaders across the country will take notice, and then take the steps necessary to ensure that the North Carolina legislators hear our collective voice.