Goldman Sachs boss backs same-sex marriage

One of Wall Street's most powerful figures has become the first major business leader to join a national campaign in support of same-sex marriage.

The gay rights advocacy group Human Rights Campaign has published a video in which Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs since 2006, asks viewers to join a "majority of Americans who support marriage equality".

"America's corporations learned long ago that equality is just good business and it's the right thing to do," Mr Blankfein says in the video, which was posted on YouTube.

Although Mr Blankfein, 57, has aired his views on the issue in the past, the video is a rare public display of support on a highly controversial issue from one of the financial world's titans whose company has not always endeared itself among supporters of liberal causes. "Our campaign is all about recruiting unexpected spokespeople so Americans can connect the dots and realise that on an issue like this there can be agreement," said Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign.

Besides Mr Blankfein, the Americans for Marriage Equality campaign has attracted a dozen personalities on similar videos, including the Oscar-winning actress Mo'Nique.

Gay marriage remains outlawed in more than 40 of the 50 US states and the issue promises to surface in the 2012 presidential election even as economic woes seem to take priority in the minds of voters.

Reuters