Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Long list of big companies come out against Prop8

As the amici briefs regarding the Prop8 case come in, here's another worth noting:
The justices will hear arguments March 26 on California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that halted gay marriage in the state after it was allowed for five months.
The corporate group, which also includes Facebook Inc. (FB) and Intel Corp., (INTC) will argue in its brief that gay-marriage bans in 41 states harm workplace morale and undermine recruiting. 
“No matter how welcoming the corporate culture, it cannot overcome the societal stigma institutionalized by Proposition 8 and similar laws,” the companies will argue.
...

The publicly traded companies backing gay marriage include Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF),Alcoa Inc. (AA), American International Group Inc. (AIG), Becton Dickinson & Co., EBay Inc. (EBAY), Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC), NCR Corp. (NCR), Nike Inc. (NKE), Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Office Depot Inc. (ODP), Panasonic Corp. (6752), Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), Sun Life Financial Inc., Xerox Corp. (XRX), Zynga Inc. (ZNGA), Barnes & Noble Inc. and Caesars Entertainment Corp. 
A larger group of companies -- more than 200, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) -- is also poised to side with gay- rights advocates in a second Supreme Court case, involving a federal law that defines marriage as a heterosexual union. Under that law, known as the Defense of Marriage Act, legally married gay couples can’t claim the federal tax breaks and other benefits available to opposite-sex spouses. 
The companies in that case are part of a collection of more than 250 employers, including cities, counties and law firms.
So if the pro-gay rights lobby includes businesses and prominent REpublicans, just who is the anti-gay rights lobby?


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