I’ve only been awake for two hours and I’m already wiping tears from my eyes, thanks to this beautiful story from the New York Times about a stunning pro-LGBT donation made by the founder and president of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, and his wife MacKenzie.
Jennifer Cast, one of Amazon’s first employees who now serves as a fundraising co-chair for Washington United for Marriage — the group working to uphold the state’s marriage equality law at the ballot box this November — wrote to Bezos imploring him to financially support the effort.
She had never spoken to him about the issue. She only “suspected” he supported equal marriage rights. But she poured her heart out to her former boss, telling him how badly she wanted to marry the love of her life so that her kids and grandkids could grow up in a family that’s recognized by society. She also wrote about the pain she endured as a young adult and the difficulties she faced in coming out.
At the end of her message, Cast asked Bezos to donate between $100,000 and $200,000 to Washington United for Marriage. Then she hit “send.”
She received a stunning reply two days later:
“Jen, this is right for so many reasons. We’re in for $2.5 million. Jeff & MacKenzie.”
