Thomson Reuters signs US court brief on gay marriages

They argue that the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as being only between a man and a woman for the purposes of more than 1,000 federal laws and programmes, imposes serious administrative and financial costs on their operations.

Some of Thomson Reuters’ major clients like Wall Street firms BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as well as city governments, law firms and other groups were also among signers of the amicus “friend of the court” brief which focused on the burdens imposed by the 1996 law on companies that offer benefits to same sex spouses.

They said the law “puts us, as employers, to unnecessary cost and administrative complexity”. It also “forces us to treat one class of our lawfully married employees differently than another, when our success depends upon the welfare and morale of all employees.”

Treating heterosexual and same sex married employees differently under federal law, the brief said, imposed high administrative costs as companies maintained dual systems of tax withholding and payroll. It results in extra tax burdens for both companies and employees with health plans, and can affect payments including retirement, pension and life insurance as well as having a bad effect on morale.

Recent polls indicate that a majority of Americans now agrees that same sex marriage should be legal. Nine states plus the District of Columbia have legalised gay marriage and three more states recognise gay marriages performed elsewhere, The New York Times said. ■