Chubb Chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg has joined the growing chorus of business leaders, academic and public figures condemning North Carolina’s new law preventing municipalities from creating their own laws preventing discrimination in public places based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“Actions like those in North Carolina and other states that discriminate against sexual preference and strip citizens of their protections do not reflect who we are as a nation, and are ultimately, I believe, a threat to democracy,” Greenberg said during an April 12 speech at the Chubb leadership forum at the Risk & Insurance Management Society (RIMS) conference in San Diego.
Greenberg continued: “After all, where does it stop? This is something worth speaking about, and that is why I am speaking out about it.”
Chubb posted a video of Greenberg’s remarks on YouTube on April 15, titling the 1-minute, 44-second clip: “Evan Greenberg: Laws That Discriminate Are Not Befitting Who Ware Are As A Nation.”
Speaking to the insurance industry audience, Greenberg said that “like your companies, at the heart of my company’s culture is a respect, and support, of diversity of all kinds – religion, thought, race, color, gender, and sexual preference.”
He said that “all of us recognize the strength in diversity, both for our companies and in society. We are Americans. It is who we are.”
Leading up to his statement opposing the North Carolina law, Greenberg added that “the rights of individuals including our personal freedom, and the right to pursue happiness, are a universal right. We protect them.”
As Chubb noted in the video of Greenberg’s remarks, leaders from a number of corporations have gone on record opposing the North Carolina law. They assert that it will make it harder for businesses in the state to recruit and keep the best workers.
Those opposing the law have included the CEOs of Apple, Bank of America, Duke University’s leadership and Eddie Vedder, of the rock band Pearl Jam, according to Fortune Magazine.