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On Thursday, 379 companies signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court stating their support for gay marriage.
The Tampa Bay Rays are joined by the New England Patriots and San Francisco Giants as the first sports organizations to come out in favor of gay marriage as an official organizational stance. The document was filed yesterday, and the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case over the issue on April 28th.
In 2011, the Rays also participated in an "It Gets Better" campaign.
Players Sean Rodriguez, B.J. Upton, Sam Fuld, and Johnny Damon participated in the campaign speaking out against homophobic bullying. Then skipper, Joe Maddon, also participated in the video. At the time, the Rays were only the 5th MLB team to publicly take a stance against violence toward the LGBTQ community.
The St. Petersburg area also has a long history of supporting gay rights. The St. Pete Pride event is one of the largest Pride parades in the state of Florida. With the support of major corporations also on the brief such as Apple, Microsoft, and GE, the document is expected to make a lot of noise during the Supreme Court arguments.