The 68 companies (including Apple) that are taking North Carolina's anti-LGBT law to court

A group of 68 major corporations, including Apple, Cisco and eBay, have joined the legal effort to block a North Carolina law that targets the transgender community.

Documents to be filed in federal district court today support the Justice Department’s efforts to block enforcement of a law known as HB2, which bans transgender people from using public bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Filing together with the Human Rights Campaign, the friend of the court brief argues that the law condones "invidious discrimination" and damages the undersigned companies’ ability to recruit and retain a diverse workforce.

"HB2 is a law that forces transgender persons to deny, disclaim and conceal their gender identity, particularly whenever they wish to use single-sex restroom facilities on state or local government property," said Ted Olson, the prominent litigator who successfully fought for the overturning of California’s Proposition 8 law banning same-sex marriage.

The corporations point out that the law, enacted by the North Carolina legislature in March, is already exacting an economic toll on the state, costing more than 1,700 jobs and half a billion dollars in lost economic activity.

"These companies are sending a powerful message to transgender people and their families that America’s leading businesses have their back," said HRC President Chad Griffin. The 68 companies signing the brief are:

Here's the filing:

Proposed Amicus Curiae Brief by jmurrell4037 on Scribd

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

We'll be honest: advertising alone isn't enough for Vox, or most newsrooms, to do the amount of high-quality journalism that the world needs and keep it free. We count on contributor support in order to produce nuanced, clear, and optimistic journalism. We don't have a paywall or ask our readers to subscribe in order to see our content, so instead, we’re coming to you this #GivingTuesday to ask you to make an investment in our future. If you’ve read an explainer this year that helped you to see an issue more clearly, got the answer to a long-time question, or just plain learned something, then we hope you’ll consider making a contribution of $20 or whatever you can today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via