Voxpro pulled US deal over bathroom gender law
The law, introduced in North Carolina last year, mandates that transgender people use the bathrooms matching the biological sex on their birth certificates.
Its introduction last April sparked a wave of controversy and prompted Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr to cancel concerts.
It emerged yesterday that the law could cost the state over $3.7bn in lost business over the next 12 years, with PayPal, CoStar, Deutsche Bank, Addidas and Irish outsourcing giant Voxpro among the major companies to axe investment plans because of the law.
Speaking from New York last night, Voxpro’s Dan Kiely said North Carolina was one of three states earmarked for a new Voxpro office last year.
“But when it became clear that this law was being introduced, we just scratched North Carolina off our list. We didn’t even visit the site.
“The law runs completely contrary to our core values. I am proud to work alongside trans and gay people. The diversity of our workforce is what makes us who we are.
“Our investment instead went to Athens, Georgia, where we hope to reach 500 jobs within the next 12 months.”
Mr Kiely, who founded the company with his wife Linda in Cork city in the early 1990s, is en route to South America, scouting for new office locations.
Voxpro employs 2,200 people at its Cork headquarters and at offices in Dublin, San Francisco, Georgia and Bucharest.
