Panasonic To Recognize Same-Sex Marriages Worldwide for Employees

While the majority of Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly remain committed to prostituting themselves to The Family Foundation and granting special rights to Christofascists - sending a message to the world that Virginia is a hostile, bigot-friendly state - electronics giant Panasonic has announced a very different policy.  It will now recognize same sex marriages of its employees on a worldwide basis despite the fact that gay marriage is not yet recognized nationwide in Japan.  This, combined with a bill entered in the California General Assembly that would ban state paid travel to states with anti-gay discrimination policies, underscores the reality that pandering to the Christofascists and quasi-hate groups like The Family Foundation is bad for Virginia's economy.  Rocket News 24 has details on Panasonic's new policy.  Here are highlights:   

LGBT rights in Japan have been in the headlines quite a bit the last few years, but today it looks like the LGBT community can count another win: Osaka-based Panasonic has announced that they will begin recognizing same-sex marriages starting in April.

According to the Mainichi Shinbun, the company has received numerous requests for this policy change from employees in addition to facing pressure as an Olympics sponsor — the Olympics Charter forbids discrimination of any kind, including discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The changes are currently being implemented and will mostly involve rewriting work regulation definitions for “marriage,” “spouse,” and so on. Additionally, employees will be able to take special leave for weddings and funerals and enroll their spouses in the company welfare program. Panasonic will also be including a rule against discrimination based on sexual orientation in their conduct guidelines, which affect the company’s nearly 250,000 employees both domestically and internationally.

One issue Panasonic is currently working out is determining what exactly constitutes marriage in Japan for same-sex couples. Only a handful of districts in the country will legally marry LGBT couples, though other companies, such as IBM, have established protocols, so we’re pretty sure Panasonic can figure something out.

Apple, Facebook, Intel to Join Dozens of Companies in Brief Opposing Proposition 8, DOMA

Things just seem to be getting worse and worse for the gay haters of the Christofascist and GOP extremist far right.  Now, it appears that in addition to the now 80 prominent Republicans who have signed a brief to the U. S. Supreme Court, Apple, Facebook, Intel and a host of other corporations are joining in a brief arguing for the striking down of both Proposition 8 and the heinous religious bigotry based Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA").  Personally, I love it.  The more that legitimate, rational businesses and individuals argue against these purely religious based laws, the more it becomes obvious that anti-gay animus based on extremist religious beliefs are the only basis for upholding Proposition 8 and DOMA.  And the U.S. Constitution prohibits religious based discrimination by the federal government and the states.  Bloomberg.com reports on the list of companies lining up against Prop 8 and DOMA.  Here are highlights:

Dozens of companies, including Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Morgan Stanley (MS), are planning to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, saying bans in 41 states harm workplace morale and undermine recruiting..

The group, which also includes Facebook Inc. (FB) and Intel Corp., (INTC) will make its case this week as the high court prepares to take up California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that halted gay marriage after it was allowed for five months.

“No matter how welcoming the corporate culture, it cannot overcome the societal stigma institutionalized by Proposition 8 and similar laws,” the companies will argue, according to a copy of the brief provided by Orrick Herrington Sutcliffe LLP, the law firm representing the group.

The filing is part of an effort to convince the court that gay marriage has wide public support. Dozens of Republicans, including former presidential candidate and Utah Governor Jon Huntsman and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, are also planning to file a brief backing such unions.

A larger group of companies -- more than 200 -- 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.

Although the high court often ignores so-called friend-of-the-court briefs, in some instances they can shape the way some justices view a dispute. When the court upheld university affirmative action in 2003, the majority opinion relied on briefs filed by corporations and former military officers touting the benefits of racial diversity.

The Proposition 8 brief will include about 60 companies or their U.S. units, according to a list provide by Orrick Herrington. The publicly traded companies include Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF), 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. (SLF), Xerox Corp. (XRX) and Zynga Inc. (ZNGA)

 Kudos to these companies.  It looks like the religious fanatics at American Family Association and One Million Bitches Moms will have to launch a huge number of their ineffective boycotts.