Former National Football League (NFL)
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and his wife have donated $100,000 to the
campaign to uphold a gay marriage law approved by Maryland lawmakers.
According to gay weekly the Washington
Blade, Tagliabue made the donation during a Marylanders for
Marriage Equality fundraiser held Tuesday at the D.C. home of
Democratic lobbyist Steve Elmendorf.
“We had the privilege of raising our
family in Maryland,” Taglibue said at the event. “We have the
privilege of now living in the District of Columbia. We've lived in
New York, where they passed marriage equality. We spend time in the
summer in Maine, where they are fighting it again. I think this is
the time to view this not as an expense, but as a capital investment
in our nation's infrastructure.”
“You pass it in the legislature, the
will of the people has been expressed and you get litigation. In New
York, they didn't have to deal with it at the ballot, but now they're
attacking the Republican senators who supported it and one of them
has now been defeated. At some point the tide has got to turn. You
got to stop the litigation. You got to demonstrate that the
litigation is not – the second guessing at the ballot box is not
going to overcome the will of the Legislature. At some point you've
got to demonstrate that people who support this are going to be
re-elected, and not get punished for supporting marriage equality.”
“And I think right now is the time,”
he
added.
Tagliabue and his wife, who have a gay
son, last month donated $8,500 to the campaign.
Also attending the fundraiser were
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray.