Posted on 11/08/2011 8:39:09 AM PST by Constitutionalist Conservative
BOSTON, November 7, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A lawsuit that could nullify the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has received the support of major U.S. corporations, who filed a brief opposing the law in federal court this week.
A friend-of-the-court brief filed last Thursday in the case of Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services argues that DOMA, which protects marriage as between a man and a woman in federal law, imposes crippling burdens on employers.
Seventy employers are represented in the brief, including Microsoft, Starbucks, Google, NIKE, Levi Strauss and Co., CBS, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mass., Time Warner Cable, Xerox, Zipcar, and Stonyfield Farm. The cities of New York, Boston, and Cambridge are also represented.
The document charges that DOMA causes “unnecessary cost and administrative complexity” for employers located in states where same-sex “marriage” is recognized by law.
Since same-sex “marriage” is recognized as legal in some states but not recognized by the federal government, employers must contend with a complex tax situation for “married” homosexual couples, the brief says.
It also complains that the law harms workplace morale and a company’s ability to recruit gay employees, causing companies to become “the face” of government “discrimination.”
“Employers are obliged to treat one employee spouse differently from another, when each is married, and each marriage is equally lawful,” the brief says. “The burden of DOMA’s dual regime is keenly felt by enterprises that conduct operations or do business in jurisdictions that authorize or recognize same-sex marriage.”
The Massachusetts lawsuit is one of many challenges to the federal statute pending in courts across the country. However, the Massachusetts effort has received national attention since it is the first to reach the federal appellate level, and would be appealed next to the Supreme Court, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The pro-marriage statute is under attack in Washington as well, with the Obama Administration having refused to defend the law, then argued in favor of overturning it.
House and Senate Democrats have also attempted to overturn the law in the legislature, and some Democrats have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the Massachusetts case.
Bullcrap. It's the same definition of marriage tens of thousands of corporations used for centuries without AFAIK a single complaint. Now all of a sudden, they've discovered it's an unreasonable burden they managed not to discover that entire time??
No more Nike, Levis, Starbucks, or Google for me.
So of course the obvious response is to challenge the law that hasn't changed and affect hundreds of millions, rather than the ones that HAVE changed recently and can be challenged in smaller venues. Nope, no agenda here.
These companies supported Obamacare, support the Unions, and other liberal causes. Their members and PAC’s donate to Democrats overwhelmingly.
Advise the same for all your married friends (not same sex) tell them to spread the word. They will do so if they have any hopes of Grandchildren and Weddings for them!
I found a great little java joint right near where I live, owned by one of the county’s TEA Party organizers. She gets my business from now on.
Auf wiedersehen, Starbucks. You won’t be missed.
I bet DOMA goes under... "Gay" is all the rage in the New America.
That suit, the shareholder’s money spent to pursue is, imo, and imo as a shareholder of some of these, a breach of fiduciary duty.
Starbucks is the high priced coffee for people that don’t know anything about coffee.
They use poor quality beans and roast them too long. The result is invariably a poor tasting, acidic drink.
I also find Starbuck’s coffee way too acidic and hence, undrinkable.
The acidic, bitter taste immediately tells me that the drink was prepared by someone with no idea how to make coffee.
So much for the “corporations are right wing” myth. I want to know where right wing corporations really are so I can try to get a job with them.
Bing and Google are both pro-gay marriage. Are we supposed to trust web searches?
So is everybody going to install Linux now?
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
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Many corporations, foundations and other large entities are rife with homosexual agenda pushers. Why would keeping marriage between a man and a would create a "cripping burden on employers"? I don't get it.
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