On October 24, 2008, Apple Inc. announced via their website:
Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.
Jessica Garrison, Cara Mia DiMassa and Nancy Vogel report today for The LA Times, “A measure to once again ban gay marriage in California was passed by voters in Tuesday’s election, throwing into doubt the unions of an estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who wed during the last 4 1/2 months.”
“Elsewhere in the country, two other gay-marriage bans, in Florida and Arizona, also won. In both states, laws already defined marriage as a heterosexual institution. But backers pushed to amend the state constitutions, saying that doing so would protect the institution from legal challenges,” Garrison, DiMassa and Vogel report. “Proposition 8 was the most expensive proposition on any ballot in the nation this year, with more than $74 million spent by both sides.”
“Most of the state’s highest-profile political leaders — including both U.S. senators and the mayors of San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles — along with the editorial pages of most major newspapers, opposed the measure. PG&E, Apple and other companies contributed money to fight the proposition, and the heads of Silicon Valley companies including Google and Yahoo took out a newspaper ad opposing it,” Garrison, DiMassa and Vogel report. “On the other side were an array of conservative organizations, including the Knights of Columbus, Focus on the Family and the American Family Assn., along with tens of thousands of small donors, including many who responded to urging from Mormon, Catholic and evangelical clergy.
Full article here.
The “NO on Prop 8” group has so far refused to concede and issued the following statement:
Roughly 400,000 votes separate yes from no on Prop 8 — out of 10 million votes tallied. Based on turnout estimates reported yesterday, we expect that there are more than 3 million and possibly as many as 4 million absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted. Given that fundamental rights are at stake, we must wait to hear from the Secretary of State tomorrow about how many votes are yet to be counted as well as where they are from.
It is clearly a very close election and we monitored the results all evening and this morning. As of this point, the election is too close to call.
Because Prop 8 involves the sensitive matter of individual rights, we believe it is important to wait until we receive further information about the outcome.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention for the heads up.]
This honestly baffles me… one stop forward (Obama), and one back. At least Apple understands human rights and fairness more than the rest of California. Businesses are kept to strict anti-discrimination laws, why isn’t the entire state?
Yup, they will sue, again, and try to FORCE their views on the rest of us.
There are two issues. The legal and the religious. The legal one, I totally support equal rights under the law.
However, calling it marriage is something I don’t support. That is where the prop failed.
Will not return money to the share holders but will take the share holders money and give it to a group that has nothing to do with the stock or the market.
Investors did not get a say in this and it was money that belongs to the investors. Steve and Al, give your own money next time!
Companies need to stay OUT of politics. WTF Apple?!
it is a sad fact that american bigotry still going strong… and that is very sad.
Another proof that about 50% of Americans are still living in the stone age.
That and the fact that the constitution (the holy grail of rights for Americans) was written more than a decade ago and still rule today.
Obama is a step in the right direction no doubt, but next time you laugh at other religious beliefs, take a strong look at yourselves and see if what was ok back then is still ok today…?
Wake up people!!
I don’t understand the sanctity of marriage argument. The staggering divorce rates have done far greater harm to the institution of marriage than I think anyone could purport would occur if same-sex couples who love each other would be able to marry as well.
Can an atheist not be married? It’s not about religion and one’s religion should not infringe on the rights of another.
Civil unions are not equal to marriage under the law so to say equal rights with civil unions is incorrect.
This is very reminiscent of the “different, but equal” doctrine of the civil rights era and I think history will judge people like “ericdano” just as harshly.
Don’t buy Apple. Yes on Proposition 8
I’m so disappointed. On a day our country took such a great leap forward by electing the first ever black / biracial president, California took an equally giant leap backward. I hope the rest of the votes to be counted will change that.
What is even more scary is how close they came to taking away women’s rights to have an abortion.
I’m truly shocked, and dismayed by both of these figures.
It’s obvious that knuckle-draggers will not be on the endangered species list in California anytime soon.
Sad.
Very sad.
And it passed because blacks voted overwhelmingly Yes by a 70-30 margin. The irony that their higher turnout gave Obama the presidency and also led to the defeat of this civil rights issue.
Just think, about 40 years ago it was still illegal for blacks to marry whites in some states. How quickly we forget.
The religious in this world, by far, are some of the most evil, more despicable people on earth. Think I’m overstating? They argue sanctity of marriage. So what about divorce? They’re not speaking against divorce, you know why? Because it’s not about sanctity of marriage, it’s about God saying it’s a sin, and them forcing their world view on everyone else, and they can’t do it if they argue God in a secular nation. That means they’re lying. That means they’re hypocrites. That means they’re sinning.
Religion. The greatest evil in the world.
Tony Fadell, come back, all is forgiven.
Reason, look, it is a DEMOCRACY. Go look up the term. We put it up for a vote, and it lost……..again. So, the PEOPLE do not want this.
What you want to do is ram a set of beliefs down people’s throats. That is NOT what a DEMOCRACY does. It was up for a vote, and it got voted down. Period. Deal with it and move on.
Wahhh, wahhhh the people gave their decisions yesterday and wahhhhh I like the Batak decision but wahhhh the 52% are wahhhh facists.
ericdano, group 1 should not be able to tell group 2 what they can and cannot do, particularly when no one’s getting hurt by group 2’s actions. Just because a majority of the people don’t like it, doesn’t give them the right to tell the minority they can’t do it. It’s all about you trying to control someone else’s life, and that, my friend, is a psychosis.
It’s too bad Apple & Google was outspent big time by religious organizations.
I’m also disappointed that us Californian’s chose (by a very close margin) to put civil rights on the back burner.
It’s also a good lesson for my kids that the majority do not always make the right choice. (right as in my opinion)
@marc,
I think this is really supposed to be about Dell’s support for Prop 8 and not Apple’s. I hear they shipped a bunch of laptops to the group.
“Land of the free and the home of the brave” is just an ideal — far from the reality of the situation.
At least in WA you can now kill yourself…
@ericdano
I know it was voted down, I understand democracy (I also understand that America isn’t a true democracy it’s much closer to a republic so perhaps you should look up democracy and stop suggesting that I would be stupid enough to not understand what you apparently do not).
My point still remains and Horseman made some of the same. History will not be kind to you ericdano and the sanctity argument is wholly transparent.
Hate and discrimination didn’t disappear from the USA overnight.
At least I know the profits from the products I buy go to a company with ideals of liberty and equal rights for all.
What amuses me is the gall it takes to bring religion into this issue at all. The Christian faith (et al) are supposed to be about acceptance and tolerance. Yet all too often, the farther into such faiths people get, the less accepting, tolerant, and more outright xenophobic they become.
There is only one rational outcome to the whole thing. It will end up in the Supreme Court for the whole nation.
It will have to be decided that marriage is a religious institution and civil union a government institution. Civil union will have to be equal for all and marriage will have to decided upon by each religion, each church.
The Constitution guarantees equal rights and eventually all discrimination in legal matters will be eliminated.
This is the only possible outcome over time; it is just a question of how long it will take.
Being English, I admire the American way in a lot of respects, but I just can’t understand this religious bit. It’s like a civilisation had the knowledge to travel to far galaxies, and travel in time, yet still used candles for lighting and sacrificed babies to Bastet.
A very miserable, small minded, selfish and mean-spirited vote by the Californian public.