Marriage Equality Goes To The Supreme Court Once Again: Viacom Joins 378 Employers And Organizations In A Submission To The Court

Back in 2013, the Supreme Court considered whether a federal law called the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional. DOMA said that, for purposes of federal benefits that go to married couples, only opposite-sex married couples were entitled to those benefits even if a same-sex couple had married in a state that recognized such marriages. Viacom and 277 other companies and organizations made a submission to the Court arguing that it was unfair to companies and their same-sex married employees to require that they be treated differently from opposite-sex married employees when it came to federal benefits relating to health insurance, protected leave, retirement and other things. In June of that year in a case called Windsor, the Court held that DOMA denied same-sex married couples equal protection under the law and so was unconstitutional. We were proud to have had a small part in making that decision possible.

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Viacom Joins Group of Employers to Oppose Virginia’s Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Law

Back in July 2012, I posted a blog to let you know that Viacom had joined a broad group of employers to file an amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  Then in February 2013, a DOMA case out of the Second Circuit called United States v. Windsor went up to the Supreme Court. Once again, we joined an amicus brief calling for DOMA to be struck down as unconstitutional. In both cases, our briefs focused the courts on the perspective of employers. We told the Supreme Court: Read More

Analysis on SCOTUS DOMA Ruling from Viacom Legal

Today’s Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Windsor striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as an unconstitutional deprivation of the equal liberty of all persons guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment is welcome and gratifying for our company – it’s the result we hoped for and worked to achieve. We’re very pleased that Viacom could play a role in ensuring that all Americans who marry have equal rights under the law.  Our core values embrace a deep respect for diversity and inclusion, which includes the position we took in Windsor: if state law permits same-sex marriages, the federal government has no business impeding the rights and entitlements of such couples.  As Viacom and 277 other employers said in the amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court:

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Viacom Joins Opposition to Defense of Marriage Act

Viacom is proud of our diverse and inclusive global workforce that reflects the rich character of our audiences, our partners and our employees.  We diligently work towards enhancing our own policies that encourage diversity and equality, and believe that we have a role to play in supporting important efforts to expand these values across the country and around the world. Read More