Microsoft is joining the fight for marriage equality.

Yesterday, Microsoft posted a lengthy blog post on their support for marriage equality and the reasons they do. The company says that it prides itself on their products and services, but their greatest asset has always been their employees.

To be successful, it’s critical that we have a workforce that is as diverse as our customers. Every day, the national and global economies are becoming more diverse. The lifeblood of a business is its ability to understand and connect with its customers. We’re no exception. Now more than ever, the most effective workforce is a diverse workforce.

The company states that it employs people from every state and almost 150 countries around the world. They say that this diversity is reflected in their work and that they use this creativity in developing new products.

They claim that Microsoft was the first Fortune 500 company to provide same-sex domestic benefits to their employees. The resulting support from their LBGT employees could has been very beneficial for the past two decades.

To that end, Microsoft is throwing their support behind two bills in Washington State that would give marriage equality to their employees and everybody in the state.

They claim that Washington’s employers are at a disadvantage as long as they can’t offer an inclusive environment to their employees. They claim that marriage equality would be Washington businesses on par with the six states that already have marriage equality laws in the books. They say that such laws that provide marriage equality would allow them to hire talent in the highly competitive tech field.

They do stress though that they don’t want this to be turned into a religious issue. They want a bill that’s similar to the one passed in New York that preserves religious freedom while ending discrimination in Washington law.

“Like the New York bill, we believe Washington’s legislation should be passed into law. It will make our state and our economy stronger,” the blog stated.