article_snippet.sent: But the politicians underestimated the pushback organized by local and national businesses, including companies with no previous record of public support for social equality.
article_snippet.sent: the politicians had better adjust to a new reality.
article_snippet.sent: For the past three decades, socially conservative evangelicals and pro-business interests have been powerfully allied against government regulations, environmental initiatives and social welfare programs, while supporting lower taxes for the wealthy and pushing back against the growing diversity in America's population.
article_snippet.sent: For many, this alliance been puzzling: Other, equally devout Christians who place more emphasis on Jesus Christ's message of unconditional love and on Jesus Christ's denunciations of excessive wealth and neglect of the poor, have been uncomfortable with it, as have many business leaders.
article_snippet.sent: have many business leaders priorities, after all, are based on the bottom line.
article_snippet.sent: And companies that sell goods and services to the public are learning that support for discrimination -- or even passive acceptance of it -- threatens that bottom line.
article_snippet.sent: Businesses seeking to develop brand loyalty among younger consumers have a special incentive to highlight Businesses seeking to develop brand loyalty among younger consumers rejection of anti-gay bias.  
article_snippet.sent: It used to be that businesses could close businesses eyes to discrimination in areas geographically isolated from the more liberal coasts, but that is no longer possible.
article_snippet.sent: According to researchers for MTV's "Look Different" anti-bias campaign, 90% of youths aged 14 to 24 agree that it is important to make their communities a less biased place, and almost 80% say that everyone has a responsibility to help tackle bias.
article_snippet.sent: So who's the "moral majority" now?
article_snippet.sent: For media-savvy millennials, following that moral imperative means spreading the news about discrimination wherever the news about discrimination occurs and reaching beyond geographic boundaries to mobilize against the news about discrimination.
article_snippet.sent: America has crossed a threshold where it is no longer a good business model or political strategy to be intolerant of diversity, whether that pertains to race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
article_snippet.sent: Business leaders and politicians who ignore or offend these constituencies do so at Business leaders and politicians who ignore or offend these constituencies own peril.
highlights_snippet.sent: Stephanie Coontz says religious conservatives who discriminate no longer hold sway in a culture comfortable with diversity, including same-sex marriage .