By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Some U.S. business interests
intend to signal support for gay marriage by signing on to two
briefs due to be filed this week with the U.S. Supreme Court,
according to lawyers involved in the process who argue that gay
rights are good for business.
Various companies are set to join separate
friend-of-the-court briefs, one expected on Wednesday in a case
challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act and one due on
Thursday in a case that questions a California law that banned
gay marriage.
Major companies are to urge the court to invalidate
Proposition 8, the California law in question, and strike down
Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines
marriage as between one man and one woman.
The brief to be filed in the Proposition 8 case, a draft of
which was obtained by Reuters, has been joined by such companies
as Apple Inc, Nike Inc, Facebook Inc,
Morgan Stanley, Intel Corp, Xerox Corp,
AIG Inc and Cisco Systems Inc.
The two cases are to be argued on March 26 and 27.
In briefs already filed in support of marriage being
restricted to heterosexual unions, business interests have not
been represented. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has not taken a
position on the issue.
Lawyers at the Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe law firm,
which is handling the Proposition 8 brief, said more names could
be added to the list before it is filed on Thursday.
In the DOMA case, a source close to the case said a similar
brief with more than 250 signatories is due to be filed with the
Supreme Court on Wednesday.
In the Proposition 8 brief, attorney Joshua Rosenkranz wrote
that companies believe that the ban and other laws like it
"inflict real and wholly unnecessary injury on business."
"By marginalizing same-sex couples and foreclosing gay men
and lesbians from forming 'married' families, these bans on
equal access to marriage stigmatize gay men and lesbians and
deprive them of the benefits intrinsic to marriage," he added.
Even if a corporation welcomes gay and lesbian unions, "it
cannot overcome the societal stigma institutionalized by
Proposition 8 and similar laws," Rosenkranz wrote.
He also made the argument that there is "a strong business
case" for recognizing same-sex marriage. Gay marriage bans "can
impede business efforts to recruit, hire and retain the best
workers," he added.
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