Some of the biggest corporations in the United States, including Google, Facebook and Starbucks, say Oklahoma’s law against same-sex marriage forces them to violate their values and differentiate among their workers.

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the federal appeals court that is hearing same-sex marriage cases from Oklahoma and Utah, 46 companies and business groups said they are ultimately hurt by laws they consider discriminatory.

“The mandate in Utah, Oklahoma and other states requires that we single out colleagues with same-sex partners and treat them as a separate and unequal class as compared to employees with heterosexual partners when dealing with state marital benefits,” the brief says.

“This mandate upsets our business philosophy and prevents our companies from reaching our full economic potential because it dissuades those employees from living and working in the jurisdictions where we do, or want to do, business.”