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Posted By Robert G. about 11 months ago
EA is definitely super happy now.
Electronic Arts, for all the hate and vitriol they receive on a daily basis for being the worst corporation in America, is at the end of the day a more complex entity than we are lead to believe. Today, for example, EA has released a statement publicly advocating their dissatisfaction for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
For those not privy to American politics, DOMA is a United States Federal Law that defines the institute of marriage to be a man and a woman. First enacted in 1996, DOMA has increasingly become under fire as being both unconstitutional and immoral, as it discriminates against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community on both moral and economic grounds. The past few years, Section 3 of DOMA, which defines what marriage is, has been under constant challenge by the LGBT community, with a breakthrough happening in the California federal court, titled Golinski v. Office of Personal Management, which has ruled that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional.
Since the ruling, which happened on February 22nd, 2012, many politicians have attempted to throw out the ruling by making several appeals, including one to have the U.S Supreme Court review the case on a later date. As well as that, several Amicus Briefs have been filed to persuade the Department of Justice from overturning the current rulings. Other court cases have also been filed that have deemed the law unconstitutional. As for Electronic Arts, they have joined 70 other major U.S companies in issuing an Amicus Brief against DOMA, including corporations like Nike, Google, National Grid and Levi Strauss Co., to name a few others. Electronic Arts is also currently the only video game publisher or developer to publicly come out against DOMA.
Of course, EA is also practical in their reason why. Here is their full statement.
Electronic Arts has joined with dozens of leading US employers in signing an amicus brief that opposes the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and urges the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to find portions of the Act unconstitutional.
DOMA presents a number of problems for businesses like EA, as it creates regulatory, tax, and discrimination complications for employers, and that’s why we’re standing against it. The underlying lawsuit impacts all employers no matter how big or small, and no matter the industry, and we encourage other business to join these efforts.
While is it fairly calculating in terms of their reasons to go against DOMA, the fact that they are able to cite a probable cause for companies in the United States to not support the law as it stands on the grounds of economics and tax regulations, it is actually more ammunition to fully overturn the Defense of Marriage Act as we know it, from both a moral and financial standpoint. We shall see in the coming months how this plays out, and if any other game companies come out against the law.
Source: EA Press Release
From the publishers of certain gay-friendly games, not surprising they would do this in order to continue whatever momentum they were developing.
But if EA was doing this for altruistic or genuinely supporting the LGBT cause, it would be the end of the world. Hardly going to believe such a company that has done many wrongs could think of a right in their $$$$ centered mind.
Glad this artikel was posted, it was an interesting read.
Haters stop hatin’.
Even tho they do it from a financial standpoint, everything that supports equal rights is ok in my book. EA is a company, so it’s not strange that they do it out of a bussiness perspective.
Yes yes. EA is the worst company in the world. It’s because they caused the economic collapse back in 2008 to 2009, cost Americans 6-7 million jobs, were engaging in volatile trading meant to fail at the expense of us, cost Americans trillions of dollars to cover their asses, committed genocide using child soldiers, and kicked puppies.
Truly they deserve the title of worst company in America… if any of that actually APPLIED TO THEM!!!
They would if they could.
They gave a business reason for supporting it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the main reason they even mentioned that was to try to piss off neither the gays or the homophobes. They support the gays and if some religious nut tries to go “Bah, EA you done went against gawd!” they can just hide behind their business statement.
Not only that, as the article states, their statement could be used as a way to get the act turned over quicker.
Yup, business reasons. Pretty sure they’re support child labor for business reasons too.
They could atleast have tried to look humanist but I guess that’s impossible.
In other news, seriously, a defense of marriage act? What is this, Iran? Wait, yes! Freedom hates America! That must be it!
I know that people here are really picking on EA, but I fully understand their position. As a company, their primary incentive is profits. The majority of companies that come out in support or opposition to certain issues do so because it benefits them financially, like Smirnoff and their ads support responsible drinking and not driving drunk. It creates good PR and helps bolster their profits, which is something that I understand and I won’t hold against them. I may not agree with their reasoning, but they oppose something that I oppose as well, and that is good enough for me.
So EA is an evil, morally bankrupt company but they support the LGBT community… *reads quote*… Oh.. Fuck you EA. Here I was thinking you had a shred of decency, but you even look at gay-rights as a way to grow your stock prices.
Why do I think that if EA said they supported equal pay for equal work for women their reasoning would be “Cause then they have more money to spend on our games for all the kids they should be having.”
You know, I was about ready to say “Wow, good for EA”… and then I read their reasoning. Yeah, ok. Guess I shouldn’t be terribly surprised.
I personally enjoy reading about stuff like this, it does have to do with the game world as it will probably have a fairly major impact on gaming as well if all works out is planned if you think about it.
EA “stood up” for gay rights back in April. Some of their games, BioWares as an example contain homosexual content, so I’m not sure why anybody would be surprised by this. The gay community is much larger than some would believe and yes they wish for equality like the rest of us.
Good for EA, but I’ll bet they’re not doing it out of the kindness of their heart.
Honestly game review sites just need to stick to reviewing games because we don’t come here to read about things like this.
I’m sorry that issues that occur regarding the gaming industry, be it something political or not, are not what you want to read about.
But i’m not going to stop reporting on it.
Just saying leave the political stuff to the news site’s we get enough of this there as is we don’t need it invading our game review sites too.
This site is not exclusive to videogame reviews. It’s also a gaming news site, if you don’t want to read these kinds of articles, then don’t click the link.
I don’t care at all about Assassin’s Creed, but that doesnt mean I comment on the articles “OMG I don’t care, write about something else,” because I simple don’t read them.
Half of what makes blistered thumbs one of my key stops for gaming news is its analysis on gaming culture and the events surrounding it. The intelligent analysis is what makes this site great.
Which helps as actual game reviews are a dime a dozen which is nice but having something meatier is very much welcome.
Problem this isn’t gaming culture it is a big gaming company making a political statement by saying we are going to play it safe and not support any side really because we like everyone’s money.
Well that is important to cover, its a example of gaming stepping outside its own little corner into larger issues. Gaming sites already cover politics, mostly when it comes to censorship of the internet or videogames.
EA’s motives aside, the reason this story is notable is not that EA has taken this stance but that a gaming company has taken a stance on something that isn’t immediately about games.
Tough shit. This issue is extremely important even on a gaming site. Why do you hate freedom and happiness?
But back to EA,they don’t really care about the LGBT community. But thanks for at showcasing some kind of human compassion.