Hollywood moguls David Geffen and Steve
Bing are being credited with launching the lawsuit challenging the
constitutionality of Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban.
In an interview with Variety,
Chad Griffin, the former president of the American Foundation for
Equal Rights (AFER), the group formed specifically to support the
case, credited the business leaders with bankrolling the case.
“The leaders of the entertainment
industry have been at the forefront of the civil rights movement,”
Griffin
said. “They were there through the '50s and '60s, and they
have been there throughout the LGBT struggle for rights.”
“Folks in the entertainment industry
are really stepping up from a philanthropic perspective [as well].”
“Were it not for David Geffen, we
wouldn't have had a Prop 8 case. When we were trying to figure out
how to file and fund the case, Rob and Michele Reiner and I met with
David Geffen and he immediately wrote [a] $1.5 million [check], and
called Steve Bing and asked him to raise the other $1.5 million.”
The Supreme Court has been asked to
review the case.