Microsoft, Amazon, Costco and Nordstrom
are among the companies behind an ad endorsing passage of Referendum
74, the November 6 referendum which asks voters to uphold – or
reject – a gay marriage law approved by lawmakers.
The ad first appeared in Sunday's
Seattle Times, according to
an HRC blog post.
“As
leaders who do business in Washington State, our companies and
organizations strive to attract the best and the brightest talent in
order to compete in a global marketplace and to reflect our
communities, customers and employees’ diversity. We are endorsing
Referendum 74 to uphold the state's civil marriage equality law that
allows all loving, committed couples to be married, while also
protecting religious freedom,” the
ad states.
“We support allowing all loving,
committed couples the freedom to marry because it means every
employee is treated fairly, it helps our competitive business
advantage and is good for our state's economy.”
Executives from REI and Alaska Airlines
also added their names to the ad.
Amazon CEO Jeff
Bezos earlier this year gave $2.5 million to the campaign working to
approve Referendum 74.