Amazon Founder Donates $2.5M To Approve R74

Matthew Staver/Bloomberg News

The corporate and LGBT worlds are buzzing today about an astonishing pledge made by the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, billionaire Jeff Bezos (and his wife Mackenzie) to donate $2.5 million in support of preserving marriage equality in Washington state (where Amazon is headquartered). The money will go to Washington United for Marriage's campaign to approve Referendum 74 on the November 6, 2012 ballot, and basically doubles the total amount of money WU4M has raised to date.


The organization responded with a press release:

SEATTLE—July 27, 2012—Washington United for Marriage (WUM), the statewide coalition working to defend the state’s law protecting civil marriage for same-sex couples, today announced an historic, $2.5 million gift from Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos.  It is believed to be the largest individual gift in the country to secure or protect the freedom to marry.  With the Bezos’ gift, WUM has now raised over $5 million towards its broad, statewide campaign to approve Referendum 74 in November.

“I am thrilled by Jeff and MacKenzie’s staggeringly generous donation,” said Jennifer Cast, who serves as WUM’s volunteer finance co-chair and spent over seven years in various senior positions at Amazon.com. “Their support of our efforts to approve R74 comes at an important time and will have great impact.  I am deeply grateful to both of them as this donation is going to help us make history.”

“The extraordinary contribution from Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos will make an enormous difference for our campaign to defend Washington’s marriage law,” said WUM’s campaign manager, Zach Silk. “While it provides an amazing base for the work ahead, we hope it spurs others to invest because we’re a long way from November and we face opponents with deep pockets who are committed to spending millions to defeat us.”

It will be interesting to see if this news about the massive amounts of money raised by marriage equality advocates will quiet the nerves of local LGBT activists who are nervous about the recent polling numbers out of Washington on marriage equality.