Major Corporations Back Gay Marriage in Florida

As Anita Bryant want to be Pam Bondi, the GOP Attorney General of Florida, continues to try to throw road blocks and delays in front of court rulings striking down that Florida's ban on same sex marriage (all to prostitute herself to the "godly folk"), a who's who of the corporate world have filed an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit asking that court to end the fight against gay equality and strike down the Florida ban.  Amazon, Bloomberg, CBS, and General Electric are among the dozens of companies that signed the brief which can be viewed here.  Among other things, the corporations argue as follows:

“State laws and constitutions denying marriage to gay and lesbian citizens are bad for our businesses,” . . . . .  “Amici are forced to bear unnecessary costs, complexity, and risk in managing our companies, and we are hampered in our efforts to recruit and retain the most talented workforce possible—all of which places us at a competitive disadvantage.”

“Our success depends upon the welfare and morale of all employees, without distinction.

The burden—imposed by state law—of having to administer complicated schemes designed to account for differential treatment of similarly situated employees interferes with our business and creates unnecessary confusion, tension, and ultimately, diminished employee morale. We write to advise the Court of the impact on employers of the disparate treatment mandated by states that refuse to permit or recognize marriages between same-sex couples.”

We, and many of our peers, recognize that diversity is crucial to innovation and marketplace success. Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”) community are one source of that diversity.   An April 2013 Small Business Majority survey reported that sixty-nine percent of small  business owners support non-discrimination laws protecting LGBT workers. As of 2014, ninety-one percent of Fortune 500 companies provide non-discrimination  protection for their LGBT employees, . . .

Republicans claim to be "pro-business" but ignore the calls of big business preferring to whore them selves to the religious extremist who with overt racist now control the party's base.