Apple has invited its employees through an internal memo to participate and represent the company together next month at San Francisco’s annual LGBT pride parade. Apple will host a base camp for registered attendees made up of Apple employees and their families and will supply entertainment and breakfast as well as T-shirts for participants. This year’s Pride Celebration and Parade marks the 44th annual gathering and has been host to the likes of Apple, Google, and Facebook (including CEO Mark Zuckerberg) in recent years. Apple as a company certainly has not been shy about wearing its pride on its sleeve with the company being a big advocate for legislation proposed in Congress in part intended to protect LGBT workers from discrimination.
The Apple CEO shared on Twitter last month his support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act with this message: “The House should mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act by passing ENDA”
Cook has also gone as far as writing an opinion-editorial for The Wall Street Journal last year laying out his and Apple’s support for the legislation and effort:
Cook went on to say that Apple’s own policies exceed the protections proposed in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act as it fosters an environment that celebrates diversity.
Notably, Apple publicly opposed a controversial state bill in Arizona that was largely viewed as discriminatory against the LGBT community; that bill was later vetoed.
