EA, Microsoft, and Zynga oppose Defense of Marriage Act

EA, Microsoft, Zynga, and more than 270 other companies have stood in opposition of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by signing an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to repeal the law. DOMA defines marriage as between one man and one woman, leaving out of all homosexual couples. Other tangentially game-related companies who signed the brief include Intel, Facebook, Google, Apple, Qualcomm, and the Walt Disney Company.

"Although marriages are celebrated and recognized under state law, DOMA, a federal law withholding marital benefits from some lawful marriages but not others, requires that employers treat one employee differently from another, when each is married, and each marriage is equally lawful. DOMA thus impairs employer/employee relations and other business interests," reads the brief.

This is the second brief signed by most of the aforementioned companies and it differs slightly from the first signed on July 10, 2012.

"This brief is similar in nature of course, but supports a different Supreme Court case, this one being United States vs. Windsor. Both have the same implication--that DOMA presents an issue for employers by forcing them to put married employees in two categories which creates regulatory, tax, benefits and morale problems for employers," EA corporate communications representative Sandy Goldberg told GameSpot.

GamesIndustry International previously spoke to executives from EA and Zynga for their thoughts on DOMA and its possible repeal. At the time, Zynga general counsel Reggie Davis called LGBT equality "the civil rights issue of our time."

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