SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie announced a gift Friday of $2.5 million to the campaign to defend Washington’s same-sex marriage law.
Washington United for Marriage says it has raised more than $5 million for Referendum 74 on the November ballot. Last month Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and co-founder Bill Gates each donated $100,000 to the campaign supporting the law.
Referendum 74 was certified for the ballot in May after gay marriage opponents in the group Preserve Marriage Washington turned in more than 240,000 signatures.
The referendum seeks to overturn the law signed in February by Gov. Chris Gregoire. The law was supposed to take effect June 7 but has been put on hold.
A yes vote upholds the law and a no vote overturns it.
from The Associated Press

Charlie Rogers

OMAHA, NEBRASKA – An alleged victim of a hate crime in Nebraska spoke out for the first time Thursday, the same day that more than a thousand people rallied in support of the victim that police say was assaulted by masked men who carved homophobic slurs into her body.
“I can’t adequately express how much it has meant to me that people are standing with me and people are standing for me,” Charlie Rogers, 33, said in an interview with CNN affiliate KETV.
Three masked men allegedly bound Rogers and carved the words into her skin Sunday, police in Lincoln, Nebraska, said. The incident has been classified as a hate crime because derogatory terms for lesbians that were used, said Officer Katie Flood, a spokeswoman for the Lincoln Police Department.
Rogers said she had tried to keep her identity secret after the incident. But she decided to go public Thursday because there have been allegations that the attack did not happen.
“For people to think this doesn’t happen here, it does. It did,” Rogers told the affiliate.
Rogers’ attorney, Megan Mikolajczyk, told CNN Rogers wanted to make it clear it was not “a hoax.” Asked if there was anyone specific they were addressing, Mikolajczyk said there was not, but that she wasn’t surprised there were naysayers.
“I don’t think it’s safe or necessary to point the finger at any one individual,” Mikolajczyk said. “I think its par for the course for any sort of high profile incident for people to question what happened.”
More than a thousand people gathered at a vigil in Omaha Thursday evening in support of Rogers.
After the attack on Sunday, Rogers was able to escape and run to her neighbors’ home. The neighbor, Linda Rappl, said she was horrified at Rogers’ injuries.
“I was in shock,” Rappl said. “She was naked, her hands were tied with zip ties. All I could see was a cut across her forehead and blood running down.”
from CNN

First Boston. Then Chicago.
The next city to tell Chick-fil-A to keep out? San Francisco.
Edwin M. Lee, mayor of the progressive city, tweeted Thursday night: “Very disappointed #ChickFilA doesn’t share San Francisco’s values & strong commitment to equality for everyone.”
He also added a warning to his subsequent tweet: “Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer.”
Until Thursday, San Francisco had stayed mum on the debate, which began when Chick-fil-A’s president, Dan Cathy, went on the record as saying his Atlanta-based chicken chain operated on biblical values and opposed same-sex marriage.
He told an interviewer last week that the fast-food giant was “guilty as charged” of supporting “the biblical definition of the family unit,”
Since his comments, the reaction has been intense. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told the Boston Herald that he no longer wanted Chick-fil-A in his city. Muppets creator Jim Henson Co. backed out of a partnership with the chain to make kids-meal toys.
Later, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a statement saying the company did not share “Chicago’s values.”
On Thursday, at a newly opened Chick-fil-A restaurant in Laguna Hills, customers were met by a group of protesters who urged them to buy fast food elsewhere.
Conservatives have been rallied by former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who has urged supporters to swarm into Chick-fil-A restaurants on Aug. 1. Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin blogged that Menino’s “beef with the beloved chicken sandwich supplier is as full of holes as Chick-fil-A’s trademark waffle fries.”
“When an elected public official wields the club of government against a Christian business in the name of ‘tolerance,’ it’s not harmless kid stuff,” Malkin wrote. “It’s chilling.”
Last week, Chick-fil-A issued a statement saying it would “leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.” The company added that it has always aimed to “treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.”
No reaction yet from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who supports same-sex marriage and is mayor to a city with a sizable LGBT population.
from The Los Angeles Times
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Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll

FLORIDA -  Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll apologized Thursday for offending lesbians when she said black women who engage in those relationships don’t look like her.
Carroll, who was implying that black lesbians aren’t attractive, made the remarks more than a week ago when she was asked about court documents in which a fired staffer claims that she walked in on Carroll and a female travel aide in a compromising position. Carroll denies that claim.
“It is wrong and inexcusable to make a comment that hurts people, and that was not my intention,” Carroll wrote in a letter to Equality Florida, a group that seeks equal rights for gays and lesbians. “As a Christian, my faith guides me to love and respect all people. The false charges that have been lodged against me are no excuse for what I have said.”
The claims about Carroll were made by fired staffer Carletha Cole, who is charged with secretly taping a conversation with Carroll’s chief of staff. Cole allegedly gave the recording to a newspaper reporter. Carroll has been married for 29 years and has three children.
“Please know that I am committed to treating every person with the utmost respect and dignity and I hope you will accept my heartfelt apology,” Carroll wrote.
Nadine Smith, Equality Florida’s executive director, said Carroll also called her.
“I want to thank the lieutenant governor for taking responsibility for her words and for responding to the harm those words inflicted,” Smith said. “Apologies by elected leaders for public mistakes are rare and it is to the lieutenant governor’s credit that she has taken this step.”
from The Associated Press