Roger Fingas
A mass of 379 companies including Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court expressing their support for same-sex marriage, in advance of a landmark April hearing on the issue.
The brief puts forward a business case for making same-sex marriage legal nationwide, for instance arguing that it will let companies recruit the best talent by extending the same benefits given to heterosexual couples. Similarly the companies say it could also discourage workers from leaving a company to live in a state where same-sex marriages are recognized.
The current "dual regime," in which only some states recognize or allow same-sex marriages, is said (PDF) to create "legal uncertainty" and impose "unnecessary costs and administrative complexities" on businesses. The brief further claims that "companies that are diverse and inclusive obtain better profits and other outputs, thanks to improved team collaboration and commitment."
Other major corporations behind the curiae include Amazon, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Cisco, Disney, Dropbox, eBay, EA, General Electric, HP, Intel, Oracle, Pepsi, Qualcomm, Twitter, United Airlines, Verizon and Xerox.
April's hearing should determine whether same-sex marriage is a constitutional right. Even if the Supreme Court doesn't rule in that direction, it will still have to decide whether states without same-sex marriage should recognize marriages performed elsewhere.
Apple has long been a supporter of LGBT causes, having extended benefits to same-sex couple decades ago. Last year, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook came out as gay in an open letter supporting equality.
In 2008 the company also donated $100,000 to oppose Proposition 8, a ballot measure which briefly made gay marriage illegal in California.
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Oliver Haslam
139 Comments
I would love to see the all the conservatives who do not support same-sex marriage put their money where their mouth is and stop using the products and services from every company on their list.
[quote name="sog35" url="/t/185091/apple-google-hundreds-of-other-us-companies-file-court-brief-in-support-of-same-sex-marriage#post_2686646"]I await the comments of our resident conservative wacko's [/quote] First post and name calling already. Just shows that liberals and classy don't belong in the same sentence, :) Since pretty much every company under the sun is on this list seeing Apple on it elicits a big yawn from me.
I await the comments of our resident conservative wacko's
Yeah, can't wait for someone to spout it is an attack of religious freedom(not sure how) and that they should have every right to restrict someone elses liberty since they don't believe in the same thing as them.
I'm always chagrined when religious right wing purveyors of small government are purveyors of big government when it comes to demanding that the government impose their barbaric edicts from their bibles full of misogyny, racism, homophobia, religious supremacy, and the like.
I'm always chagrined when religious right wing purveyors of small government are purveyors of big government when it comes to demanding that the government impose their barbaric edicts from their bibles full of misogyny, racism, homophobia, religious supremacy, and the like.
They are the same ones who will tell you how the 4th amendment guarantees the right to gun ownership, then turn around and tell you that the Establishment Clause and Free Excersize Clause of the 1st amendment in no way apply. It pains me to see the dissapearance of classical conservatism as the neo con's make me embarrassed to call myself a Republican.