Quote:If they're so concerned with how LGBT folks are treated I would say the fact that they would conduct business at all in a country that treats LGBT folks badly and does nothing about it because of lack of PR is pretty crappy. Their 'outrage' at what's going on in NC is false. 

Not really crappy at all.  


There were anti-sodomy laws in the US (outlawing even certain types of sex between married couples) until 2003 whenn <i>Lawrence v Texas</i> where those laws were struck down by SCOTUS.  Paypal became a business in 1998.   It's a matter of affecting policy.  Pulling out of North Carolina shows support for the LGBT community (as well as their LGBT customers and LGBT workers)..  Pulling out of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, or Malaysia isn't going to affect policy.  Now it'd be a much bigger statement if they pulled out of those countries.  The outrage isn't false.  It's a matter of how it effects profits.  It's easy to convince the stockholders to pull out of North Carolina because of the law.  Convincing them to pull out of entire countries would no doubt be a much harder sell.  Especially since it wouldn't create positive PR for them as well, and largely would accomplish nothing.  They're still a company when it comes down to it.  I'm sure they don't like the treatment of gays in those countries either.  But they're a company, and their primary goal is to make money.  They can afford to make a move like this in this country because support for LGBT rights have gained a lot of traction.  Apple's CEO is gay, and he still does business with places where homosexuality is a crime.  He still employs people in those places too.  It'd be a stretch to say that he doesn't care about LGBT rights.  But making a statement by pulling out of countries like that would fall on deaf ears in those countries.  In this country, their voices are heard, and paid attention to.  Changing an entire culture isn't easy to accomplish.  America has slowly evolved toward being pro-LGBT rights.  It's happened much faster than most people expected (and I'm sure this has caused some animosity from certain groups).  Such a statement has much more influence in a country like ours, than in those other countries.  I'm sure if they thought that they could get those places to change their laws by pulling out, they would.  But it won't.  They are set in their ways.  And it's going to take more than a few companies pulling out to convince them it's time for them to change.  

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