Press Release: GSBA Joins Business Amicus Brief for Marriage Equality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            

Media Contact:

Matt Landers

206.363.9188 | MattL@thegsba.org

www.thegsba.org

 

GSBA Joins Business Amicus Brief for Marriage Equality

Continues Lead In Bringing Business Voice to Supreme Court

SEATTLE – February 13 – The Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) is adding its name to a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, together with other businesses, chambers and business organizations. The brief will explain to the Supreme Court how employers are burdened by the inability of certain employees to marry the spouse of their choice, and by the current patchwork of state laws applicable to same-sex marriage. Those burdens include:

·         Recruiting/retention challenges in those jurisdictions that do not have marriage equality;

·         Corporate administrative and financial burdens;

·         Lack of certainty and business uniformity; and

·         Requiring employers and human resources departments to implement government-mandated regulations that undermine the corporate mission.

By June, the Court will likely decide definitively whether states must allow same-sex couples to marry, and whether states must recognize the marriages of same-sex couples who wed elsewhere. The Court has stated that it will be addressing the questions of whether the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and if the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully performed out-of-state.

GSBA has been working on marriage equality and building the business case for equality for many years through signing onto court briefs, legislative advocacy and referenda advocacy. In addition, GSBA is a recognized leader in educating legislators at all levels of government about and advocating for equal rights with tax and immigration laws. Hundreds of businesses filed a pro-marriage equality brief in the 2013 Windsor v. U.S. and Perry v. Hollingsworth cases. Over twenty percent of signatories to those briefs were GSBA members based in the Puget Sound region.

The architects of the amicus brief (Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP) have also requested that GSBA once again reach out to its members and other LGBT chambers around the United States. The National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) has also agreed to sign on as an amici and to work with its qualifying affiliate chambers to join the amicus brief. West Coast LGBT chambers that are members of the Western Business Alliance are also working to gain approval from their boards to sign on as amici.

If your business would like to sign onto the Obergefell business amicus brief or have any questions, please contact Matt Landers at mattL@thegsba.org. We will send you a business information and statement questionnaire to complete and return to by March 3, 2015.

EDITOR’S NOTES: 

Please contact Matt Landers at MattL@thegsba.org or 206.363.9188 for more information as for interview requests.

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About the Greater Seattle Business Association

Established in 1981, the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) is the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and allied chamber of commerce in North America.  GSBA is widely known for its work on business development, connecting community through business, advocacy on behalf of civil rights and businesses and promoting LGBT tourism through its Travel Gay Seattle initiative.  GSBA invests in the next generation of leaders by sponsoring a Scholarship Fund which will give out is two-millionth dollar in scholarships in 2015. For more information about GSBA, visit www.thegsba.org.