Giving a financial and public relations boost to gay marriage proponents, PG&E announced today that it is giving $250,000 to the No on Proposition 8 campaign.
The utility also said it will spearhead the formation of a business advisory council that will seek to get other businesses around California to to defeat the ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.
"We are thrilled to partner with PG&E," Geoff Kors, exeutive director of Equality California, said in a statement.
The donation from the utility, and the formation of the business council, represents a shift from the last time that the question of gay marriage was on the ballot, in 2000. Back then, many businesses stayed on the sidelines. This time, in addition to PG&E, other large corporations such as AT&T and Wells Fargo also have donated to defeat Proposition 8.
Analysts said businesses may be more willing to get involved this time because they have more gay and lesbian employees who are out and in positions of power and because they believe the amendment could hurt business if passed, by giving the impression that California is not friendly to gay and lesbians.
The other side has received donations from business as well. Doug Manchester, a major hotel owner in San Diego, has given tens of thousands of dollars, for example. Those donations prompted gay and lesbian activists to call for a boycott of the Hyatt hotels he owns in San Diego.
Republican strategist Allan Hoffenblum noted that PG&E probably doesn't have to worry about that. They are, after all, a utility with a monopoly in many areas.
"I can't in outrage call PG&E and say, 'Cut off my gas," he said.
Jessica.garrison@latimes.com
