Hundreds of U.S. businesses are coming out in support of same-sex marriages in friend-of-the-court briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in two separate cases dealing with the issue next month.
Abercrombie & Fitch, Amazon.com, Apple, Barnes & Noble, eBay, Facebook, Google, Levi Strauss, Nike, Office Depot and Starbucks are among the companies signing on to the friend-of-the-court briefs.
The first case involves Edith Windsor who is challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. She had to pay $363,000 in estate taxes after the death of her spouse Thea Clara Spyer. None of the fees would have applied in a heterosexual marriage.
The second case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, involves a challenge to the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriages.
According to Fortune, which obtained a copy of the brief in the second case, companies are arguing that overturning Prop. 8 is "a business imperative." It asserts the law in California as well as bans in 40 other states put businesses at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to "recruiting, hiring, and retaining talented people" who can go to other states or countries to work and be afforded the same rights as straight couples.