The US Supreme Court may soon rule on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. The court heard opening arguments in Obergefellv. Hodges late last month, and its decision could make legal same-sex marriage the law of the land.
Thirty-six states currently allow same-sex marriage, and a full 58 percent of the American public now supports legal recognition for such unions. In cases where states have been slow to change marriage laws, sometimes businesses have stepped in to ensure protections and benefits to LGBT workers and their partners.
"I'm struck as a historian by the rapidity of this — by how quickly this has happened," Nancy Koehn said. Koehn is a historian at the Harvard Business School.
Koehn noted that twenty years ago businesses that supported LGBT rights were few and far between.
"I can't think of any social area where business [has so quickly] been willing to step out onto the stage" in support, Koehn said. She noted there were important business rationales behind the support.
In an article for Salon, reporter David Sirota wrote about the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act passed by the Indiana legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mike Pence. The law allowed businesses to refuse service to customers on religious grounds. Amid an outrcy about legalized discrimination, supporters said it was a win for religious freedom. In the wake of RFRA, Sirota drew attention to the CEOs of Eli Lilly and Angie's List, both of whom denounced Gov. Pence, but had also personally donated to his campaign.
"I don't see this necessarily as a massive hypocrisy. I think it's all about business. So they're placing their wagers" on both sides, Koehn said. "For Eli Lilly and for Angie's List, this is too hot to handle, this is not good business. All of this is in the interest of good business.
"You have a lot of talent, a lot of folks in the workforce — whether they're out or not — who are either lesbian, gay, bisexual or [transgender], or very supportive of LGBT rights. And you have a lot of customers, suppliers that are critical to your business that are equally supportive. So it's just not something you want to be on the retrograde side of."
Koehn cited Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein's support of LGBT issues as another example of strategic positioning.
"You can be dubious about the larger public footprint of Goldman Sachs. There's lots of good reasons to be dubious about its public citizenship, on lots of different counts. I think he came out with great thought and great strategic planning. And this was — I am sure — also about burnishing Goldman Sachs's image."
Koehn said Wall Street's "silver-back gorillas" and other LGBT-friendly powerbrokers may have influenced leaders like Blankfein to speak out.
However the Supreme Court rules on same-sex marriage, many businesses and communities have already embraced the LGBT community. That could be a sign of broader support to come.
"Twenty years ago, who would've said [...] 'Do you think in 2014, 2015 we'll all be talking about the public-image race to the finish to embrace gay rights?'" Koehn said. "We would've said, 'What are you smoking?'"
>>Nancy Koehn is a weekly guest on Boston Public Radio. Koehn is the author of Ernest Shackleton Exploring Leadership, and a historian at the Harvard Business School.
