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For Immediate Release
March, 11 2015, 09:00am EDT
Contact:
Angela Dallara | angela@freedomtomarry.org | 646.430.3925
Washington Post Ad Showcases Broad Business Support for the Freedom to Marry Nationwide
NEW YORK, NY
Freedom to Marry today ran a full-page ad in the Washington Post highlighting the nearly 400 businesses that submitted a friend-of-the-court-briefon Friday in support of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. Of the 379 businesses on the brief, more than half - 196 - had not previously signed onto friend-of-the-court briefs supporting marriage.
The ad appears here: https://www.freedomtomarry.org/page/-/files/pdfs/WashingtonPostAd.pdf
"Marriage discrimination not only harms America's families, but America's businesses, imposing an unwieldy, expensive, and unnecessary burden on companies, employees, and the economy," said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry. "Smart employers know that respecting same-sex couples' freedom to marry is good for business, good for employees, and good for America. Freedom to Marry is proud of our part in securing business signatories on this friend-of-the-court brief, and of our ongoing role in getting businesses on the right side of history. We commend the nearly 400 American businesses who have joined us in declaring that it's time for the Supreme Court to finish the job and affirm the freedom to marry nationwide."
Notable new signers on the brief include: DIRECTV, Visa Inc., Wells Fargo, The Coca-Cola Company, General Mills, St. Jude Medical, Inc., Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Estee Lauder, American Apparel, American Airlines, PepsiCo, the San Francisco Giants, the New England Patriots, and the Tampa Bay Rays.
Last year, Freedom to Marry and Out & Equal Workplace Advocates released a report by Marsh & McLennan calculating that the cost of the remaining patchwork of marriage laws on business in the private sector at the time totaled $1.3 billion every year.
Freedom to Marry submitted its own friend-of-the-court brief, while dedicating its team of organizers to helping secure friends of the court, including the nearly 400 business signers, more than 200 first responders, nearly 2000 faith leaders from all 50 states, 226 mayors through its Mayors for the Freedom to Marry program, and 35 young Republican operatives through its Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry campaign who joined the Republican brief. Counsel of record on Freedom to Marry's amicus brief is former U.S. Solicitor General Walter Dellinger of O'Melveny & Myers. The business amicus was authored by Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.
Freedom to Marry is the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Headed by Evan Wolfson, one of America's leading civil rights advocates and lawyers, Freedom to Marry brings new resources and a renewed context of urgency and opportunity to this social justice movement.
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'Unacceptable': Campaigners Decry Climate Finance Failures as COP29 Enters Final Hours
"By the end of the UN climate talks, we must see at least a trillion dollars in public finance on the table," said one campaigner.
Nov 21, 2024
As the clock winds down at the UN climate summit taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, green groups are sounding the alarm Thursday following the release of a draft climate finance deal that they say falls short of what's needed to support climate-vulnerable countries and adequately address the planetary crisis.
"The clock is ticking. COP29 is now down to the wire," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday, just a day before the two-week conference is set to conclude.
Finance has been a major focus of this year's summit. Under the 20125 Paris Agreement, countries are supposed to come up with a "new collective quantified goal"—or NCQG in COP jargon—that will govern how much money from rich countries will be transferred to developing countries in order to help the latter cut their emissions and adapt to climate change.
No equivalent climate finance arrangement has been agreed to before, though countries at the summit broadly agree that richer countries, who are responsible for much of historic CO2 emissions, should help poorer and more climate-vulnerable nations deal with natural disasters and their transition to green energy.
The draft text that dropped early Thursday, however, was received poorly.
Oxfam International's climate justice lead, Safa’ Al Jayoussi, said "COP29 must do more than simply repeat the same threadbare promises. Rich countries have spent decades now stalling and blocking genuine progress on climate finance. This has left the Global South suffering the most catastrophic consequences of a climate crisis they did not create. The draft text scandalously misses the crucial element of declaring a clear public commitment to a new climate finance goal."
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While Article 6 of the Paris Agreement allows for the international transfer of carbon credits, groups warned the changes in the COP29 draft would dramatically strengthen the foothold of such schemes.
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As 350.org's Sieber argued, paying the "historic debt that rich countries owe will enable all nations to take action on climate at home and meet the collective goal agreed last year at COP28—to triple renewable energy, and transition away from fossil fuels. Right now, we only see cowardice and a void in leadership, ignoring the undeniable science that we can't keep polluting our planet with dirty oil, gas and coal."
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An analysis released Wednesday showed that the United States' 815 billionaires have seen their combined wealth surge by roughly $280 billion since Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election earlier this month, a finding that came as Republicans continued to lay the groundwork for another massive tax giveaway for the rich.
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After widespread condemnation of 52 U.S. House Democrats who joined the GOP last week in backing a bill that would threaten nonprofit groups, there was significantly less support among Democratic members for the legislation on Thursday—but civil society groups denounced those who persisted in supporting what one critic called a "MAGA assault" on fundamental rights.
The so-called "Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act" (H.R. 9495) passed in the House by a vote of 219-184, with 15 Democrats joining all but one Republican in supporting the bill.
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Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich urged the Senate, which is led by the Democrats until January, not to allow the "attack on free speech [to] come up for a vote during the lame-duck."
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But with Republicans set to take control of both chambers of Congress as well as the White House after the New Year, advocates are warning that it will ultimately give the Trump administration "unprecedented and unchecked power" to take action against groups whose mission and work President-elect Donald Trump opposes, particularly those fighting for Palestinian rights.
"This bill is a five-alarm fire for anyone who seeks to protect free speech, civil society, and democracy. This bill is part of a broader MAGA assault on the fundamental right to public protest that begins with attacks on Palestinian rights groups and is aimed at outlawing all social justice movements fighting for progressive change," said Beth Miller, political director for Jewish Voice for Peace. "It is shameful that the House of Representatives passed a bill that is straight out of the well-worn authoritarian playbook. The Senate must ensure that this bill to dismantle fundamental freedoms does not move forward or become law."
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Under the legislation, the federal government would not be required to disclose evidence of its allegations that nonprofits are "terrorist supporting organizations."
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