This is the tale of the 1% standing up for the rights of
the, and I’m guessing here, the 10%
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon.com, and his
wife, MacKenzie, are donating $2.5 million to help pass that same-sex marriage
referendum in Washington. This makes the couple among the largest financial
backers of marriage equality rights in the entire country.
And I say Bravo
and Brava!
The donation has doubled the
money available to Referendum 74 proponents, who are calling it a “game-changing
gift that gives them a fighting chance” in November.
Zach Silk, the campaign
manager for Washington United For Marriage, says, “To
get this from a straight, married couple sends a powerful message that marriage
is seen as a fundamental question of fairness.”
Thursday in an
interview.
Bezos joins a growing list of
heterosexual business executives—like Bill Gates and Steven Ballmer--who are
replacing wealthy gay people as the some of the biggest donors to the movement
behind marriage equality. Those two men each gave $100,000, but with his
seven-figure gift, Bezos has now set the bar even higher.
Jennifer Cast, one of Amazon’s earliest employees and a
lesbian mother of four, and a now a fundraiser for the pro-referendum effort,
emailed Bezos recently about marriage equality.
In her e-mail, Cast asked Bezos to understand the importance
of the issue to her and her longtime partner: “I want to have the right to
marry the love of my life and to let my children and grandchildren know their
family is honored like a ‘real’ family. We need help from straight people. To
be very frank, we need help from wealthy straight people who care about us and
who want to help us win.”
Cast says she gad no idea how
Bezos would respond until she received an email back from him:
“Jen,” the e-mail
said, “this is right for so many reasons. We’re in for $2.5 million. Jeff &
MacKenzie.”
Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos are an extremely private couple,
and declined, through a public relations representative, to be interviewed
about their donation, but their gift speaks volumes. Loudly.
Yes, yes and YES! Bravo to Jeff and MacKenzie!
ReplyDeleteWow! Money talks, and they're shouting. Good on them!
ReplyDeleteWe grow 'em good in WA. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's great
ReplyDeleteHey Bob, I don't think our spammer here likes American women that much....
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this generous donation hopefully causes the people of Washington to really think & re-think their position on the matter.
Good for Bezos and his wife!!
ReplyDeleteWeird spammer.