Apple applauds Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage

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Normally, the words ‘Apple applauds’ and ‘Supreme Court’ don’t go together. The Cupertino company isn’t on the greatest terms with the US government at the moment, what with the whole tax evasion thing and the ongoing e-book trial.

But today is a different story. In a pair of 5-4 decisions this morning, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex couples in two major cases, effectively allowing federal benefits for gay couples. And Apple says it applauds the ruling…

AllThingsD reports:

“One ruling overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, the bill passed in 1996 that ruled same-sex marriages unconstitutional. The other decision left intact a lower-court ruling that invalidated California’s Prop. 8 ban on same-sex marriage.

Among progressive Silicon Valley tech companies, the reaction was incredibly positive.

“Apple strongly supports marriage equality and we consider it a civil rights issue. We applaud the Supreme Court for its decisions today,” an Apple spokesman told AllThingsD in a statement.”

A number of other tech companies have come out this morning in support for the Supreme Court’s ruling as well. Type in ‘Gay’ or ‘Lesbian’ into Google Search, and the box morphs into a multicolored rainbow—similar to its Pride Week celebration.

Instagram posted photos of celebrations to its blog, and companies like MasterCard have taken to Twitter to show their support. Facebook hasn’t commented yet, but notes that 70% of its 200 million US users have at least one gay friend on their network.

Apple, as AllThingsD points out, has long stood against inequality. It has, for a long time, offered health benefits to employees in same-sex relationships, and it donated to the “No on Prop 8” [the proposition in question today] campaign in 2008.