Posted on 04/04/2022 12:32:01 PM PDT by Mount Athos
Following the enactment of Florida's anti-grooming law, Apple is reportedly sending its lobbyists into states passing similar pro-parental rights legislations in an attempt to stop the bills or overturn them.
According to recent reporting by Politico, one of the world's most valuable companies is working with policymakers and advocacy groups across the country to strategize and file court briefs against laws they say infringe LGBTQ rights.
An email recovered by Politico reveals how senior leadership within Apple's corporate structure has pushed to use the company's resources to advocate against these types of laws.
Following the passage of a transgender investigation order in Texas, Fred Sainz, Apple's senior director of corporate communications, reportedly asked leadership at other Fortune 500 companies to join Apple in their opposition to the state's action. "Apple has joined the effort and will lend its name and logo," Sainz wrote in early March. "I'm reaching out because we are hoping you will too."
In response, 60 companies signed onto this letter. Apple's stance against such bills could pose a risk to the tech giant. According to Politico, Republicans in Iowa have argued that the company should no longer receive state subsidies in response to its stance against legislation protecting women's sports from biological male athletes.
"Apple framed the law as part of a ‘social agenda’ rather than fairness for women’s sports," Republican Iowa state Sen. Zach Nunn told Fox News last month. "That becomes a concerning issue when we have a major industry who attempts to come in and force public policy based on an agenda they may have in a boardroom out of state."
Apple hasn't often involved itself in political issues. The company does not reportedly have a political action committee, nor does it make campaign donations. It also maintains a smaller federal lobbying presence than its fellow tech companies, and does not often engage in policy issues-related discussions with news media.
But despite this, four organizers on the ground in states where legislation is moving told Politico that the company is one of the most active corporate advocates for LGBTQ rights behind the scenes.
Apple spokesperson Peter Ajemian confirmed in a statement that the company "regularly lobbies" against anti-grooming (so-called "anti-LGBTQ+" by its opponents) legislation "across the states, just as we did in Florida."
"The company has tried to leverage its greatest assets — the popularity of its products and the size of its employee base in the US — to crush the legislation," Politico reported.
Apple's advocacy efforts reportedly are entailed by its close partnership with the Human Rights Campaign, where the company is one of the most active members in the group's corporate membership calls, and commonly urges peers to get involved with the campaign's state-level battles. The company though does not usually work much with state advocacy groups.
This was noted in regards to Florida's law, which opponents have falsely dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill, despite the bill not containing this phrasing.
Equality Florida, a pro-LGBTQ group, said in an email that its staff hadn't noticed any of Apple's lobbying in regards to Florida.
Democratic Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones, who opposes the legislation, said he "never heard from Apple" in regards to lobbying efforts against the bill.
"Right now, we're in a moment where corporations are being challenged on where they stand and lobby on social issues," Jones said. "This is a teachable moment for them to realize that the moment these things come out drafting and get filed, they should step up right then and there."
In Arizona, Apple reportedly has nine registered lobbyists that have been fighting against a slew of legislation recently passed that protects women's sports as well as children from irreversible gender reassignment surgeries.
"Apple has been an incredible partner for the LGBTQ community," said Democratic Arizona state Rep. César Chávez, who has opposed a slew of legislation that Governor Doug Ducey recently signed into law. Despite this behind-the-scenes effort, some are skeptical of Apple's involvement.
The company's App Store and developers have previously censored LGBTQ-centered apps in 152 countries around the globe, though Apple has countered that these apps were taken down by the developers themselves, and a few were taken down for legal reasons.
"Apple has such restrictive and monopolistic app store policies, it creates a convenient chokepoint for authoritarianism and discrimination," said Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future. "That's how I evaluate a company — they can wave the rainbow flag all they want but at the end of the day, Apple is conducting itself in a manner that’s harming my community."
A number of states, including Iowa, Utah, North Dakota, and the aforementioned Republican-led Florida and Texas, have enacted similar bills protecting school-aged children and women's spaces.
Last month, the "Parental Rights in Education" bill was signed into law, which prohibits age-inappropriate classroom instruction of sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade in Florida classrooms.
As the bill passed through the legislative chambers in Florida, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, took to Twitter to express his disapproval.
"As a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, I am deeply concerned about laws being enacted across the country, particularly those focused on our vulnerable youth," Cook, who is gay himself, said on Twitter.
How does more sodomy and pedophilia help sell more iPhones??
Has Apple found a correlation? Or are they up to more than just selling communication devices?
Apple really wants to lose business, methinks. As much as I am an Apple fan, perhaps it’s time to go to Linux (don’t even think of going to Win-doze).
Hmmm, I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that Apple’s CEO is..... Too bad he doesn’t have the brains to come up with any really new hardware and keeps redoing software, the majority of which we don’t really give a slimy Obama about.
Nah, couldn’t be.
Ah yes, Apple, the preferred brand of the SSAD afflicted.
If I weren’t so invested in Apple products (phones and computers), I’d look elsewhere.
So the entire Apple company should now be registered as dangerous pedophiles with none of them allowed around or near children and certainly nowhere near any grade school.
Got it. Maybe they should all be neutered for the safety of children everywhere.
Apple!? Crap. All my phones, computers, and tablets are Apple products. What to do about that? I guess I’ll just have to return to Microsoft products since they are 100% American made. Wait, oh crap.
Been saying it for years, support Apple, support your own doom!
Apple is run by that mentally ill homosexual freak Tim Cook.
Nothing destroys companies faster than homosexuals.
Isn’t Apple very beholden to China?
Hasn’t China bragged about its ability to corrupt American politicians and businessmen?
Is this a case where China has used its ability to trap and blackmail corrupt Americans into working to weaken America?
Wouldn’t it be great if America’s “Intelligence Agencies” would look into these questions?
s
Much as it hurts to say this, Cook has got to go.
Nonvoters should be prohibited from such activities.
Every corporation in America is woke. Unless you are going to make your own components, you'll be getting them from woke companies.
It takes eyes off of the slaves making said iPhones.
I think they should ban Global Warming Grooming
This CEO hasn’t done anything remotely innovative. His only claim to fame is a pregnant man emoji.
Apple is running on vapors and has been since Steve Jobs left.
If you ever change your mind and want to switch to Linux, you let me know. I’ll personally help you whatever way I can.
I’ll own it.
I switched to Linux many years ago when I realized it ran twice as fast on any computer Windoze was on. I do keep a Win10 drive for the occasional times I want to use a program that won’t run on Linux or a Windows emulator within Linux (Mint).
This CEO hasn’t done anything remotely innovative. His only claim to fame is a pregnant man emoji. Apple is running on vapors and has been since Steve Jobs left.
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Cook’s claim to fame is his supply chain acumen; Steve didn’t leave, he died. The vapors AAPL has been running on, since Steve died, has made a lot of people wealthy.
AAPL has never been about innovation as in inventing things, but taking an existing thing and making it better, to the point people cannot live without it.
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