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Many of the nearly four dozen companies that signed the petition this month have been relatively quiet on the recent wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation in the U.S. so far. Their signatures come as Disney faces sharp backlash for its initial silence on the Florida bill. 

“The current political climate across the country is so toxic when it comes to protections for our community and Florida is not immune,” said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, in a press release about the petition. 

“It is vital that the businesses that uplift values of diversity and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community by participating in our Pride celebrations, leverage their voices in a time when our community is under attack,” Smith said. 

Human Rights Campaign and Freedom for All Americans first published the petition in 2020 to address dozens of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced across the U.S. at the time.

The petition garnered support from around 44 companies by March of that year, including tech giants Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft as well as companies such as Hilton, American Airlines and Dow Inc. A year later, the petition had signatures from more than 55 companies.

Signatures tripled to more than 150 by the beginning of 2022 state sessions in January, according to Jessica Shortall, director of corporate engagement at Freedom for All Americans. 

The petition also saw an uptick in signatures during February and March this year. 

Several companies “with a major presence in Florida” added their names to the petition on Feb. 28, just days after the state House passed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Among the new signatories were United Airlines, Oracle and IHG Hotels & Resorts, which all represent tens of thousands of employees in Florida, according to Human Rights Campaign. 

Shortall said it wasn’t Florida’s bill alone that prompted companies to lend their support. Lawmakers in Alabama, Iowa, Texas and Arizona have all recently introduced or adopted anti-LGBTQ policies.

The Alabama state Senate made it a crime to provide gender reassignment medical services to transgender youth last month. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in late February also instructed Child Protective Services to open child abuse investigations into parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children, she added. 

At the beginning of March, Iowa became the first state to pass a ban on transgender student-athletes playing sports consistent with their gender identity. The Arizona House on Thursday passed a similar bill that seeks to ban transgender children from playing sports alongside their peers, just three weeks after the state Senate passed it. 

“So much attention has been on the Florida bill. But from around the end of February to March the Texas situation and countless other efforts to attack LGBTQ people have been ongoing,” Shortall said.