Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla Inc., arrives at the Axel Springer Award ceremony in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, December 1, 2020.
Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz | Bloomberg | Getty Images
This week, in a series of tweets, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, mocked the people who list the pronouns they would want others to use to describe them in their online biography. Now, a group that has earned Tesla’s top ratings as a great place for LGBTQ people to work has said it should be apologized for.
Companies are under greater pressure than ever to create an inclusive environment and support a diverse workforce. The practice of showing pronouns on social media and in executive biographies is used by people who want to show respect or who identify as trans, nonconformist gender, fluid gender, non-binary or intersex. (They are represented by the T and Q in the acronym LGBTQ.)
Apple executives Tim Cook and Greg Joswiak use pronouns in their Twitter biography, for example. And Facebook’s settings allow users to personalize gender information and favorite pronouns or choose not to show them if they prefer.
Musk’s initial tweet it included the words “when you put it in your biography” next to an image of a soldier rubbing his bloodied hands on his face.
After fans and detractors criticized the tweet, he defended himself piulant“I absolutely support trans, but all of these pronouns are an aesthetic nightmare.” He then pointed out that Tesla was ranked number one on the Corporate Equality Index, an annual list of the best places to work for LGBTQ people.
This prestigious list is compiled annually by the Human Rights Campaign, a charity foundation focused on equal rights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people.
Now, this group says Musk should apologize.
“Musk’s insensitive comments are totally contrary to what HRC’s workplace equality program works with companies every day to provide employees with a safe, inclusive and fair work environment,” the group wrote in response to a CNBC consultation.
The president of the organization, Alphonso David, stressed: “Elon Musk’s mocking tweet pronouns are exactly the opposite of what inclusive leadership looks like today. He is also decidedly out of step with the best practices we advise companies.” He also said, “Musk should apologize.”
Tesla and Musk did not immediately return any requests for comment.
Musk has been accused of transphobia in the recent past. In July, he tweeted that “pronouns suck,” but deleted the tweet after his partner, Canadian musician Grimes, confronted him.
Here is the full statement of the Campaign for Human Rights:
The Corporate Equality Index (CIS) is a comprehensive measure of non-discrimination workplace policies, practices and benefits that are fundamental to the full protection and inclusion of LGBTQ workers. Tesla earned a 100 in the 2020 CIS based on this crucial foundation of inclusive non-discrimination policies and benefits.
No comparison tool can take into account the daily experiences of LGBTQ workers. The IEC criteria are only necessary foundations for LGBTQ inclusion, but they do not represent the totality of what is needed to ensure a fully inclusive and welcoming environment. The CIS is not a cover for poor personal behavior and HRC condemns Musk’s tweets mocking pronouns.
Musk’s insensitive comments are totally contrary to what the HRC Workplace Equality Program works every day with companies to create, providing employees with a safe, inclusive and fair work environment.