Seattle-based Microsoft Corp. has
donated $100,000 to the
campaign to retain a gay partner law in Washington State, the Seattle
Times reported.
The group Washington
Families Standing Together is lobbying voters to approve
Referendum 71, the ballot measure that puts a gay-inclusive domestic
partnership law up for a vote in November. If passed, it would
extend a 2007 domestic partnership law for a second time, granting
gay and lesbian couples all the remaining state-provided rights,
benefits and responsibilities of marriage. The law has been labeled
the “everything but marriage” law by the media.
Microsoft's donation is the largest the
group has received to date, the paper reported.
Last week, the Seattle City Council
unanimously approved a resolution urging voters to approve the
referendum.
The anti-gay marriage group Protect
Marriage Washington submitted nearly 138,000 signatures on July 25,
which placed on hold the gay partner law that was scheduled to begin
the following day.
Opponents say the domestic partnership
law is unlawful because it violates a 1998 gay marriage ban approved
by legislators and deemed constitutional by the state's Supreme
Court.
Protect Marriage has raised only a
fraction of the money reported by gay rights supporters. Washington
Families says it has raised $780,000, while donations to Protect
Marriage total $60,000.