SalesForce.com’s CEO, Marc Benioff has been a vocal opponent to North Carolina’s House Bill 2 (HB2). In the last year, Benioff and other CEO’s have engaged in Social Justice activism on a scale not seen before. This activism includes, but is not limited to, attempts at economically blackmailing North Carolina.

An article at the Wall Street Journal details Benioff’s attack on the state and Benioff’s use of a “corporate bully pulpit”.  Of note in the Wall Street Journal article was the mention of North Carolina’s Attorney General Roy Cooper,  colluding with Benioff and other CEO’s in their attacks on the state:

“North Carolina’s Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper called Salesforce to discuss the law, which had drawn lawsuits against the state. Mr. Cooper “looked to Salesforce because he wanted them to know that this is not who North Carolina is, and that we are fighting against this discriminatory law,” says Megan Jacobs, deputy campaign manager for Mr. Cooper, who is challenging Gov. McCrory for the governorship.

Mr. Cooper on March 29 refused to defend the state law, saying in a news conference that it “will set North Carolina’s economy back.” Salesforce had little presence in North Carolina, so Mr. Benioff turned to Mr. Moynihan, CEO of Charlotte-based Bank of America, the state’s biggest employer. Mr. Moynihan then weighed in against the law. “I respect Marc,” Mr. Moynihan says, “but it was our headquarters, and we did it for our teammates.” In an early-April business meeting with Salesforce customer Deutsche Bank AG, which has a 900-person North Carolina office, Mr. Benioff discussed the law with its co-chief executive, John Cryan.”

But not all of the shareholders are thrilled. The article says that,  “At Salesforce’s annual shareholder meeting last year, an investor criticized Mr. Benioff’s public posture as polarizing and time-consuming.”

Some attending the latest SalesForce.com conference might agree.

At the SalesForce.com Dreamforce conference in San Francisco earlier this month, conference attendees were given badges like any other conference.  They also were given pronoun buttons.

A reader from the California area sent me a photo of these pronoun buttons.

The text on the card to which the button was attached reads:

“To ease introductions, we are offering attendees the option to self-identify by choosing a pronoun sticker and button for their lanyard. The button is completely optional – pin it on your lanyard if you want to, don’t worry if you don’t.”

The sticker with the pronouns had a selection of She/Her, He/Him, They/Them and Ask me.

The text on the card continued:

“In addition to men’s and women’s restrooms, we also have all gender restrooms at Dreamforce, giving all of our Trailblazers a place to take a break from their trail. Gender neutral restrooms are located in Moscone Wet, 2nd floor, net to room 2024.”

Here is the button and the materials it came with: