Amazon CEO's 'game changing' donation
The CEO of Amazon Friday made the largest-ever publicly reported donation to a same-sex marriage campaign. Jeff Bezos and his wife announced they are giving 2.5 million dollars to an organization defending same-sex marriage in Washington state.
That organization says the donation is a game changer. But is it right for one person to have such outsize influence over a hot-button issue?
OutFront Friday: CNN Contributor Reihan Salam and Democratic Strategist Jamal Simmons.
Amazon CEO Bezos donates $2.5 million for same-sex marriage
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is backing same-sex marriage. Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, donated $2.5 million to Washington United for Marriage, a coalition to uphold the state's same-sex marriage law. It is believed to be the largest individual donation to protect same-sex marriage.
The couple has doubled the organization's funds for the campaign to approve Referendum 74 in November. The measure will determine whether or not to legalize same-sex civil unions in Washington state.
"The extraordinary contribution from Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos will make an enormous difference for our campaign to defend Washington's marriage law," said WUM campaign manager Zach Silk in a statement.
On Twitter
There was a moment, at the end of this segment, that seems to have been cut-off in this video post. Reihan and Jamal conceeded that the current process was flawed and suggested that the solution was "charismatic people joining with wealthy people and gaining political power" to which Erin replied "That does nothing to express the sentiment of people who have neither wealth nor political power." (all quotes paraphrased from memory, unfortunately.) It was almost a Fruendian slip, the way she really feels about the world, in that way very similar to my own: somewhere along the road to power and influence, the intent for the power is lost or compromised fundamentally and the end result is far from the initial desire. I hope CNN thanks its lucky stars that they have a person who has such deeply held personal convictions about egalitarianism, the recognition of human dignity, that those thoughts form the basis of her opinions. I just wanted to let you know that I see it and appreciate it, so rare that it is in this world.