CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Apple, Nike And Over 60 Companies Filing SCOTUS Brief Supporting Gay Marriage

scotus-logosOver 60 major U.S. corporations — such as Apple, eBay, intel and Morgan Stanley — have joined Facebook in filing an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the trial of Hollingsworth v. Perry, regarding the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8, which the high court will consider next month.

Fortune obtained a draft copy of the brief in which the companies argue that Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act “send an unmistakeable signal that same-sex couples are in some way inferior to opposite-sex couples, a proposition that is anathema to amici’s commitment to equality and fair treatment to all.”

According to the draft brief:

By singling out a group for less favorable treatment, Proposition 8 impedes businesses from achieving the market’s ideal of efficient operations — particularly in recruiting, hiring, and retaining talented people who are in the best position to operate at their highest capacity…potential recruits or employees [that] are members of a same-sex couple…may forgo the opportunity to work in California, and prefer other states (like Iowa, New York, and Massachusetts) or other nations (like Spain, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, or Belgium) where they can be married and obtain equal treatment and respect under the law.

Other companies that had committed to signing the brief on Tuesday evening include AIG, Cablevision, Levi Strauss, McGraw Hill, Nike, Office Depot, Panasonic, Verizon and Xerox, with more expected to add their names on Thursday when the brief is officially filed.

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