PayPal nixes expansion in protest of North Carolina’s new “anti-LGBT” law

Not on their watch

PayPal may be a lot of different things, but the company will never be accused of refusing to stand tall and fast and stick to its vision and its morals. Case in point: Recently PayPal announced plans to open a new global operations center in Charlotte, NC and employ over 400 people in skilled jobs.

Concurrent to that, according to a press release issued by PayPal, “The State of North Carolina moved to invalidate protection of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens and deny these members of the community equal rights under the law.”

Just another business with values?

There are/were any number of things that PayPal could do in relationship to this decision: the company could have ignored the ruling all together and remained focused on business. But the fact of the matter is, the new [North Carolina] law perpetuates discrimination and, according to their press release on the matter, “It violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture.  As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion into Charlotte.”

The right thing to do

Sacrificing the impact that PayPal’s expansion into NC and the number of jobs at stake is a huge blow to the city of Charlotte. But think about: any number of those 400 jobs could have gone to members of the LGBT community. By the reneging on those basic rights, the individuals can’t compete for employment like anyone else. By its own accord, PayPal states that, “This decision reflects PayPal’s deepest values and our strong belief that every person has the right to be treated equally, and with dignity and respect. These principles of fairness, inclusion and equality are at the heart of everything we seek to achieve and stand for as a company. And they compel us to take action to oppose discrimination.”

In 2016 you would think that America is at a point where every state would be committed to the principle that everyone deserves to live without fear of discrimination simply for being who they are.

Obviously – at least in North Carolina anyway – that is not the case.

#PayPalNixingNC