A Ban Thats Bad for Business Common Sense

Last weekend, former President Bill Clinton took to North Carolina phone lines with a recorded message warning of the perils of a inherent amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions. What it will change is North Carolinas ability to keep good businesses, attract new jobs, and attract and keep talented entrepreneurs, Mr. Clinton asserted. If it passes, your ability to keep those businesses, get those jobs and get those talented entrepreneurs will be weakened. That argument landed with a thud, as North Carolina voters resoundingly upheld the amendment by a margin of 20 percentage points, and 93 of the states 100 counties voted for the proposition that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman. Notwithstanding President Obamas endorsement of gay marriage this week, North Carolina joins 30 other states with inherent bans on same-sex marriage that now stretch in an uninterrupted swath from Florida to Oregon. Mr. Clintons message that inherent bans on same-sex marriage are bad for business hardly seems self-evident. North Carolina is perennially ranked at or near the top of the best states in which to do business. Two of its major rivals for the top honor, Texas and Virginia, also have inherent amendments banning same sex marriages and civil unions, and Virginia even bans any marriage-like contract between unmarried persons. Gay marriage-tolerant New York and Massachusetts usually rank at or near the bottom. If banning same-sex unions is really bad for business, no one would know it from major North Carolina corporations, whose silence was deafening. In contrast was New York, where Goldman Sachss chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, appeared in a video supporting gay marriage, and other businesses openly and enthusiastically upheld the campaign to legalize it. In Washington State, Microsoft, Starbucks, Nike and Amazon have all upheld it, too. But not one of the 15 Fortune 500 corporations based in North Carolina did. These include such major national companies as Bank of Am! erica, L owes, Nucor, VF Corporation (best known for its Wrangler and Timberland brands) and BB&T Corporation. Moreover, theres little or no evidence that same-sex couples consider the issue of lesbian-bisexual-gay-transgender laws in deciding where to move, Gary Gates told me this week. Mr. Gates is a demographer, co-author of the book The Gay and Lesbian Atlas and distinguished fellow at the Williams Institute of the University of California, Los Angeles, which studies lesbian-bisexual-gay-transgender issues. Their patterns look like the broader patterns in the U.S. Theyre moving south and west. For everyone who moves, the main reason is for a job. Even for the L.G.B.T. community, the top issue is the job. Marriage rights are secondary. And yet theres mounting evidence that a states support for gay marriage yields important benefits for business, especially with the younger, highly educated, affluent population avidly courted by most employers. Brian Ellner, who led the successful Human Rights Campaign for marriage equality in New York, said, We heard over and over from the C.E.O.s of major corporations that they dont want any impediments to recruiting the best people, period, whether theyre people who want to live in a tolerant city or state or gay people who want to live where they feel their families will be protected and safe. He described business support in New York as enormously important. Theyre the job creators and the engines of the economy and so important to the health and well-being of the state. And they were on our side. In Washington State, where gay marriages are scheduled to begin June 7 unless opponents gather enough signatures to force a referendum, major employers have been sounding similar themes. Starbucks said in January as the state Legislature was considering allowing gay marriage that it strives to create a association culture that puts our partners first, and our association has a lengthy history of leading and supporting policies that promote equality! and inc lusion. Microsoft, the first Fortune 500 association to provide same-sex domestic partnership benefits in 1993, said, Washingtons employers are at a disadvantage if we cannot offer a similar, inclusive environment to our talented employees, our top recruits and their families as states that permit same-sex marriage. Employers in the technology sector, it went on, face an unprecedented national and global competition for top talent. In response, the anti-gay-marriage National Organization for Marriage called in March for a nationwide boycott of Starbucks that so far seems to have had scant effect. Starbucks revenue grew 15 percent in the most recent quarter, to a record $3.2 billion. It would be great if they were receiving a stand because its the right thing to do, said Mr. Gates, the demographer who lives with his husband in Seattle. But they understand that marriage equality is a mechanism for them to attract and retain talent. Its not just about gay people, because the truth is, there arent enough gay people to make a huge impact. But it signals a kind of openness to people who are different. It sends a signal to people, straight or gay, that this is a place where they can potentially thrive. Thats especially critical for companies that rely on people who have to be creative, entrepreneurial and innovative. Powered By iWebRSS.co.cc