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"Today, as reported by Bloomberg, Apple has joined the cadre of technology companies publicly in favor of the legalization of gay marriage in the United States.\r\n\r\nAt stake here is a Supreme Court case that is bringing firms out of the woodwork to express their views. The specific group, which includes both Intel and Facebook\u00A0according to the Bloomberg report, will argue that\u00A0Proposition\u00A08, a California law banning gay marriage, should be overturned.\r\n\r\nOrrick Herrington Sutcliffe, the legal team representing the group, released the following\u00A0snippet\u00A0of argument: &amp;quot;No matter how welcoming the corporate culture, it cannot overcome the societal stigma institutionalized by Proposition 8 and similar laws.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nTechnology companies stepping out in favor of gay marriage is not new. In fact, in\u00A0January\u00A0of last year, Microsoft made a similar argument in Washington state:\r\nMarriage equality in Washington would put employers here on an equal footing with employers in the six other states that already recognize the committed relationships of same-sex couples - Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. This in turn will help us continue to compete for talent.\r\nIts entry concerning the issue was entitled, bluntly: &amp;quot;Marriage Equality in Washington State Would Be Good for Business&amp;quot;\u00A0The\u00A0Proposition\u00A08 case, it should be noted, is seperate from the Defense of\u00A0Marriage\u00A0Act, or DOMA, which is under\u00A0separate\u00A0legal challenge.\r\n\r\nOther companies in the technology world that are said to be in favor of gay marriage include Zynga, eBay, Oracle, and NCR.\r\n\r\nThat this is coming to a head right now is perhaps not surprising, given that President Obama cased waves by publicly endorsing the practice\u00A0last year, public opinion has swung in favor of the concept, and even prominent Republican's have in recent days endorsed the idea. The sea change long sought after by proponents of gay marriage is underway.\r\n\r\nThis is not to say that technology companies are just now finding their way into the\u00A0corral\u00A0of supporting homosexual couples. Google, for example, has paid employees in gay relationships extra, to help compensate for their higher tax bills as they could not marry.\r\n\r\nTop Image Credit:\u00A0Ivan Bandura"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/02/27/apple-joins-the-intel-facebook-microsoft-in-supporting-the-legalization-of-gay-marriage-in-the-us/>