Amazon’s Founder pledges $2.5 million in support of marriage equality

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, and his wife, MacKenzie, donate $2.5 million to help pass a same-sex marriage referendum in Washington State, instantly becoming among the largest financial backers of marriage equality rights in the country.

“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.

Mr. Bezos, who founded Amazon.com in 1994 in Seattle and remains its president, now tops a growing list of heterosexual business executives who are replacing wealthy gay people as the some of the biggest donors to the movement behind same-sex marriage and equality for gay men and lesbians. Bill Gates and Steven A. Ballmer of Microsoft each gave $100,000 to the referendum campaign, according to its officials.

[via NYtimes.com | Image via Matthew Staver/Bloomberg News]