Obama, businesses challenge marriage ban
The Obama administration has joined hundreds of large corporations and a number of high-profile Republicans in submitting a brief to the US Supreme Court in support of striking down California’s Proposition 8 marriage ban.
The Supreme Court justices are due to hear verbal arguments in cases against both Prop 8 and the US Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) this month.
“California’s extension of all of the substantive rights and responsibilities of marriage to gay and lesbian domestic partners particularly undermines the justifications for Proposition 8,” the administration’s brief stated.
“It indicates that Proposition 8’s withholding of the designation of marriage is not based on an interest in promoting responsible procreation and child-rearing – petitioners’ central claimed justification for the initiative – but instead on impermissible prejudice.”
Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft were among hundreds of companies to sign a brief arguing same-sex marriage restrictions hurt their businesses.
