Minnesota.USA

Thomson Reuters says Minnesota anti-gay amendment is bad for business

Staff Reports

MINNEAPOLIS -– Media giant Thomson Reuters on Friday said that a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota would be bad for business.

John Shaughnessy, a spokesman for the New York-based business data provider, told reporters Friday that several of the company’s Minnesota-based executives wrote in an email to employees, “We believe the Minnesota Marriage Amendment, if passed, would limit our ability to recruit and retain top talent.”

Shaughnessy added that company doesn’t believe the amendment “would be good for Thomson Reuters or the business community in the state.”

On Thursday, the group Minnesota for Marriage — an anti-LGBT organization advocating for the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage — showcased a new study by CNBC identifying what it found to be the 10 most business-friendly states in the nation. Minnesota for Marriage noted that nine of those states have passed marriage amendments.

“The claim that the passage of the marriage protection amendment will hurt Minnesota’s economy is a complete myth,” said John Helmberger, board chairman of Minnesota for Marriage.

“If anything, the opposite is true. The CNBC study is yet another in a string of studies that consistently show states with a marriage protection amendment in their constitution are among our top performing economic states,” said Helmberger.

Minnesota already has a law against same-sex marriage, but opponents claim that the amendment is necessary to put the ban in the state constitution.

“It simply puts our current definition of marriage beyond the reach of activist judges and politicians to change it without the consent of the voters,” said Helmberger.

Minnesotans United for All Families, the group working to defeat the amendment, hailed Thomson Reuters’ position.

“More and more, companies in Minnesota are standing up and saying that this hurtful amendment is not in the best interests of businesses, families or the state of Minnesota,” said Richard Carlbom, Minnesotans United for All Families’ Executive Director, in a statement.

Other prominent Minnesota-based companies, including General Mills and St. Jude Medical, have publicly opposed the proposed amendment, which goes to the state’s voters in November.

Connect with LGBTQ Nation.

The Nation's most followed LGBTQ news magazine.