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L.A. judge rules LGBT corporate diversity law unconstitutional

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Re: L.A. judge rules LGBT corporate diversity law unconstitutional

#21

I'm extremely relieved common sense has prevailed here.

It's not "common sense".

It's the basis of Western (sub-)civilisation: Enlightenment Values.

It's most definitely not "common sense" because it took us (the human civilisation) several millenia to arrive to these values.

Fortunately, they're spreading.

Re: L.A. judge rules LGBT corporate diversity law unconstitutional

#22
post #15
post #2

This seems like the right decision (and I'm saying this as an LGBT person). The problem is, it just doesn't seem like legislation is the right instrument for promoting diversity in boardrooms. But what is the right mechanism? I anecdotally recall studies that found organizations with greater diversity deliver better financial results, and that public companies have a responsibility to their shareholders. It's importa…

> I anecdotally recall studies that found organizations with greater diversity deliver better financial results People also tout these studies for getting more women in business leadership. in reality that's a weird argument, women or lgbt or people of color don't need to be better in order to be accepted, they should be accepted by default. Maybe business culture with its rigid and often stupid conventions and deman…

Pretty sure the idea is that diversity (of thought and other) itself can improve outcomes, not that anyone is necessarily better or worse at their jobs.

Re: L.A. judge rules LGBT corporate diversity law unconstitutional

#24
post #12

If companies were employee owned and operated you wouldn't need half the regulations and laws on the books that we do now. They would have been better served by creating more rights for all workers instead of this odd-ball stuff that ends up getting struck down and handing more power to corporate shadow characters.

What is stopping employees of a company from getting together and starting a rival, employee owned company?

The current undemocratic nature of capital allocation that disfavors worker-ownership.

Re: L.A. judge rules LGBT corporate diversity law unconstitutional

#25
post #15
post #2

This seems like the right decision (and I'm saying this as an LGBT person). The problem is, it just doesn't seem like legislation is the right instrument for promoting diversity in boardrooms. But what is the right mechanism? I anecdotally recall studies that found organizations with greater diversity deliver better financial results, and that public companies have a responsibility to their shareholders. It's importa…

> I anecdotally recall studies that found organizations with greater diversity deliver better financial results People also tout these studies for getting more women in business leadership. in reality that's a weird argument, women or lgbt or people of color don't need to be better in order to be accepted, they should be accepted by default. Maybe business culture with its rigid and often stupid conventions and deman…

>in reality that's a weird argument, women or lgbt or people of color don't need to be better in order to be accepted, they should be accepted by default.

In reality every non-majority demographic has to be better in order to be accepted. They often have to work harder just to reach the default that the majority takes for granted, because that system works with the majority, and against everyone else.

Re: L.A. judge rules LGBT corporate diversity law unconstitutional

#26
This is what the California constitutional says (excerpt),

> A citizen or class of citizens may not be granted privileges or immunities not granted on the same terms to all citizens. Privileges or immunities granted by the Legislature may be altered or revoked.

The is what the bill says (excerpt):

> a publicly held domestic or foreign corporation whose principal executive offices, according to the corporation’s SEC 10-K form, are located in California shall have a minimum of one director from an underrepresented community on its board

> “Director from an underrepresented community” means an individual who self-identifies as Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Alaska Native, or who self-identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.

Re: L.A. judge rules LGBT corporate diversity law unconstitutional

#27
post #22
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I anecdotally recall studies that found organizations with greater diversity deliver better financial results People also tout these studies for getting more women in business leadership. in reality that's a weird argument, women or lgbt or people of color don't need to be better in order to be accepted, they should be accepted by default. Maybe business culture with its rigid and often stupid conventions and deman…

Pretty sure the idea is that diversity (of thought and other) itself can improve outcomes, not that anyone is necessarily better or worse at their jobs.

well, if we accept that the success of business is the sum of its parts, then it is implied that the diverse people add something more than others

Re: L.A. judge rules LGBT corporate diversity law unconstitutional

#29
post #2

This seems like the right decision (and I'm saying this as an LGBT person). The problem is, it just doesn't seem like legislation is the right instrument for promoting diversity in boardrooms. But what is the right mechanism? I anecdotally recall studies that found organizations with greater diversity deliver better financial results, and that public companies have a responsibility to their shareholders. It's importa…

No post body was provided.

Re: L.A. judge rules LGBT corporate diversity law unconstitutional

#30
While I think this is probably the right decision (I’m no constitutional scholar or lawyer though, to be fair), it does bring up the question of why boards and C-suites are still pretty homogeneous, when most research supports the idea that diverse boards and executive teams perform better in the market. And that’s not even considering the fact that I believe our society (including our companies) has a moral imperative to fix the pretty stark inequities many minority populations in the US have and are still facing.

Is it because groups of white men are more comfortable hiring other white men? Or is it because the pipeline for producing executive-level managers is only producing similar individuals because of those societal inequities? I’d guess a mixture of both.

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