Openly gay philanthropist Jon Stryker
has given $325,000 to fight a proposed constitutional amendment which
would ban gay marriage in Minnesota.
Stryker of Kalamazoo, Michigan gave the
gift to Freedom to Marry Minnesota's political action committee on
Tuesday, the AP reported.
Minnesota United for All Families, the
coalition of groups working to defeat the November referendum, was
formed by Freedom to Marry.
Stryker and sisters Pat and Ronda are
heirs to the Stryker Corporation medical supply company fortunes of
grandfather Homer Stryker. Jon Stryker founded the Arcus Foundation
to further his social and environmental activism.
In 2008, Stryker told The Chronicle
of Philanthropy that he prefers to stay out of the spotlight. He
has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to support gay rights
causes and great-ape conservation. He has also spent millions of his
fortune to elect lawmakers who support causes he cares about.
“I'm probably one of the wealthiest
gay men in this country, and I felt I had a big responsibility,”
Stryker said about assuming a role in advancing human rights. “I'd
never been involved with civil-rights work so directly before, and I
just felt it was a calling. There were very few individuals
involved, and I felt I could have a big impact.”