Area companies petition Supreme Court to support gay marriage

WASHINGTON -- Microsoft, Amazon and Adobe, Inc., are just a few of the more than 270 companies and U.S. firms that signed an amicus brief calling on the Supreme Court to repeal the Defense Against Marriage Act Wednesday.

The companies joined a group of prominent Republicans Tuesday who also filed with the Supreme Court in support of gay marriage.

The companies, made up of a variety of Fortune 500 players and local entities, argued the Defense Against Marriage Act (DOMA) precludes the federal recognition of gay marriage, something that is already legal in some states. From a corporate view, DOMA becomes a human resources problem on how to reconcile the differences between state and federal law, the brief stated.

"The Burden of DOMA"s dual regime is keenly felt by organizations that conduct operations or do business in jurisdictions that authorize or recognize marriage between two people of the same sex," the brief read. "It puts us, as employers, to unnecessary cost and administrative complexity, and regardless of our business or professional judgement sources us to treat one class of our lawfully married employees differently than another."

Among the companies submitting the letter to the court are Alaska Airlines, Apple Inc., Citigroup Inc., eBay Inc., Facebook, Inc., Orbitz and Microsoft Corporation.