SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and Co-founder Bill Gates have each donated $100,000 to the campaign supporting Washington state’s recently passed law legalizing same-sex marriage, reported the Associated Press on Monday.
The law, approved by the state legislature and signed by Governor Chris Gregoire earlier this year, faces a ballot referendum in November.
Steve Ballmer (left) and Bill Gates
The donation from Gates and Ballmer will “make a tremendous difference,” said Zach Silk, campaign manager for Washington United for Marriage, a marriage equality advocacy group working to gain voter approval for the new law.
“It’s very important for us to have that broad support from business leaders and companies themselves.”
Referendum 74 will ask voters to accept or reject the law that legalizes same-sex marriage — last month, the group “Preserve Marriage Washington,” which seeks to overturn the law, submitted petitions containing 247,331 signatures, more than twice the minimum required to qualify it for the ballot.
Prior to Gates’ and Ballmer’s donations, Washington United for Marriage had raised nearly $1.5 million for the campaign to fight back attempts to overturn the law.
Preserve Marriage Washington has raised only about $130,000 according to recent figured released by the Public Disclosure Commission, though the money race is expected to heat up significantly in the coming months.
The anti-gay National Organization for Marriage has vowed to aggressively fight to overturn the law.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., is one of many major U.S. corporations to publicly support Washington’s marriage equality bill — others include Seattle-based Starbucks, Google, Alcoa, Nike and Group Health Plan.
In 2011, Microsoft was one of 70 major U.S. companies to participate in “amicus” brief filing in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the First Circuit claiming that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is harmful to commerce.
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YEEEEESSSSS @A@
WTG Bill & Steve.
awesome!
hell yeah baby all the way
I still hate their operating system, but good for them supporting equal rights.
Yey! Thanks Microsoft! <3
huh almost makes me regret switching to Ubuntu…but I’m poor and needed to get a computer running for my buisness
wow..!!
Good job Microsoft! =)
Yessssssss!!!!! Ty Ty Ty Microsoft execs
Alright Microsoft!
thank you microsoft. bet this pissses more people off than the oreo cookie
Way to go Microsoft! This is why I’m proud to say I’m a Microsoft user, not an Apple user.
^yes
so are the US Bishops going to boycott using Microsoft products?
Don’t be fooled by Bill Gates. Next he’ll be testing us to see what our sexual orientation is, collecting the data, making us wear Galvanic Skin Response Bracelets to monitor your activity. I’m not kidding. Look at what he does to public education, students, and teachers. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/11-million-plus-gates-grants-galvanic-bracelets-that-measure-student-engagement/2012/06/10/gJQAgAUbTV_blog.html PS> I support same sex marriage. I do NOT support anything Bill Gates does. It is all propaganda.
Great news, although I am deeply saddened that equal rights of the minority continue to be up for vote by the majority (who it does not affect). I’m grateful for businesses like Microsoft but I am disgusted by states like Washington. Shame on their government.
Susan DuFresne: Sorry, I gotta call b.s. on this comment. Only propaganda I hear is from the poster, not the Washington Post.
Finally, Microsoft gets something right!
you guys do realize that $100,000 is like chump change to them, right? They’ve given a lot more money to less deserving organizations in the past.
Call b.s on what comment?
what’s your point?
besides minimizing the significance of someone’s contribution.
Yay! Awesome Microsoft!
Roberta I am calling b.s. on Susan DuFresne’s contention that Bill Gates and his work is all propaganda.
@Wesley Walker: Better than not donating at all isn’t it?
http://www.artfinder.com/work/calligraphy-shaden-mohamed-meleas/
Great way to take a public stand. Put your money where your mouth is.
Very cool.
so awesome :)
That is awsume!!!!!
oh dear. I can actually hear conservative heads exploding all over the USA.
Does this mean people will boycott microsoft that means they will have to stop being on facebook cuz they cant get on their computers and stop playing their xboxes because they are also made my microsoft
Listen…it’s the sound of thousands of homophobe’s computers crashing to the ground. pft! lol
Good for them!
Any homophobes should boycott from using their computers. The founder of the computer technology was gay.
YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MICROSOFT YOU WIN POINTS MAJOR LOVELY POINTS FROM ME! (I am a gay gamer)
oh yeah
and this is why im a pc
WOOHOO!
way to go
WOW! Talk about money well spent! :) Thanks Microsoft!!!
Go Steve and Bill!!!!!
remember this the next time some blowhard talks about how evil the 1% is.
oh no!!! i bet people will start boycotting Microsoft as well!!!!!
Yes! Microsoft geeks FTW! :)
Apple donated money against Prop 8 back in 08 and I def haven’t seen anyone boycott them
Parabéns a Microsoft. Derrubando tabus e preconceitos!
take that mormons.
These two are the definition of straight allys. Microsoft has long been supporters of LGBT rights, and same-sex benefits were part of their company for years, long before they needed to.