Following in the footsteps of PayPal, Deutsche Bank has announced that they've canceled their plans for an expansion in the city of Cary, North Carolina.
Citing the passage of the anti-LGBT law HB2, the bank says their businesses are intended to be inclusive.
Here's the company's official statement:
The Bank’s decision is due to state-wide legislation enacted in North Carolina on March 23 that invalidated existing protections of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender fellow citizens in some municipalities and prevents municipalities from adopting such protections in the future.
John Cryan, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank, said: “We take our commitment to building inclusive work environments seriously. We’re proud of our operations and employees in Cary and regret that as a result of this legislation we are unwilling to include North Carolina in our US expansion plans for now. We very much hope that we can re-visit our plans to grow this location in the near future.”
Deutsche Bank isn't the first to cancel their plans in North Carolina and they won't be the last. Governor McCrory and Republicans in the state legislature, for their part, aren't budging. At least not yet. They've chosen to bury their hands in the sand and declare that "privacy" and "safety" are worth any price.
Privacy and safety for who?
It seems extremely likely if not certain to me that the law will be ruled unconstitutional in federal court, but that will take time.