- checking login information
Loading...Amazon Founder Gives $2.5 Million to Gay Marriage Effort
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and his wife have pledged $2.5 million to help the campaign hoping to retain Washington’s marriage equality law at the November ballot.
With the gift, the couple have doubled the money available to the proponents of Referendum 74, which would legalize same-sex marriage in the state by affirming a law that passed the Legislature this year. Courts or lawmakers have declared gay marriage legal in six other states, but backers of such measures have never succeeded at the ballot box.
Proponents of the effort in Washington State called it a game-changing gift that gives them a fighting chance in November.
“To get this from a straight, married couple sends a powerful message that marriage is seen as a fundamental question of fairness,” Zach Silk, the campaign manager for Washington United for Marriage, said Thursday in an interview.
The state’s Legislature passed the marriage equality bill in February of this year after Governor Chris Gregoire championed the move.
Unsurprisingly, before the ink was even dry on the bill in fact, anti-marriage equality groups quickly started the process of gathering signatures to put the measure on the November ballot.
When the signatures were counted R-74, as the measure is known, qualified comfortably. However, recent polls suggest that the voting public is in favor of allowing gay couples to marry, with around 54% saying they are inclined to keep the law.
While same-sex marriage has never won at the ballot anywhere in the US, Washington is rather special in that in 2009 it voted to retain a law that expanded the state’s domestic partnership legislation to grant same-sex couples nearly all the state-level rights of marriage, the first time such an expansive law had been approved at the ballot.
Equality advocates hope to build on that success to find victory in November.
Related Reading:
Lawsuit Over Washington’s ‘Prejudiced’ Marriage Referendum Title
Gov. Gregoire Signs Washington Marriage Equality Bill
Microsoft Supports Marriage Equality in Washington
WA Lawyer Moves to Repeal Gay Marriage (Before It’s Even Been Legalized)
Read more: ballot, Chris Gregoire, citizens united, civil rights, domestic partnerships, gay marriage, gay rights, james bopp, lgbt USA, lgbt Washington, marriage equality, public disclosure, referendum, Referendum 74, republicans for marriage equality, voter initiative, washington
Image used under the Creative Commons Attribution License with thanks to soumit.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
Recent Comments from Causes
Signed. Such a cruel thing and so useless. Seems people just go ouot of their way to find cruel things…
I don't use apps unfortunately but this is a great idea
ty
meet our writers
77 comments
+ add your ownGreat to see someone high profile (well, kinda) who is looking out for interests other than his own. Let's hope he starts doing likewise for his own staff...
Well, an entrepreneur and a post-boomer generation? Does he read the boards here>
good news
Good start, now let's get everyone to stand up for equal rights for ALL humans!
Well done Amazon Founder! I hope all goes well with the voting, marriage equality is important!
@ James B. also if you type out a comment then hit send and get sent back to "login" again because like me, we took too long typing a too long post ;) it normally doesn't post what you just typed! Which is why I've gotten in the habit of copying my post before I hit send!
Maybe this bit of info can help more than just James!
Cynthia S. -- Or Jesus was referring to the questions asked him about marriage, which would have been between a man and a woman. It is clear that he was referring to the marriages he was asked about, and the marriages that were extant.
Jesus never mentioned the Earth revolving around the sun, but that doesn't tell us what he believed about the subject.
This is in response to a comment that Jesus did not talk about homosexuality. He was not specific, though as a Jew and knowledgeable about the Scriptures (Old Testament), he would have known what is in Leviticus. However, Jesus did speak about marriage and it is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. So check out Mark 10: 1-12 and Matthew 19: 1-11.
This is in response to a comment that Jesus did not talk about homosexuality. He was not specific, though as a Jew and knowledgeable about the Scriptures (Old Testament), he would have known what is in Leviticus. However, Jesus did speak about marriage and it is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. So check out Mark 10: 1-12 and Matthew 19: 1-11.
Now, if only he'd give the same amount to help the warehouse workers make a living wage. Or at least get air conditioning and water breaks...
login to add your comment
use your care2 login
add your comment