Mayor Bloomberg Donates $250k to MD Marriage Advocates

It was announced on Friday that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave $250,000 to help pro-marriage equality efforts in Maryland’s upcoming referendum. The mayor’s gift was the largest individual donation received so far by advocates in the state, who are facing fierce opposition to Question 6 in November. If the measure should pass, the state will have made history as the first in which marriage equality was approved directly by voters. Bloomberg, who went to school at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, has been an outspoken advocate of marriage equality for the past several years, and has developed a friendship with the state’s governor, Martin O’Malley, based on their shared commitment to equality. Noting that opponents of the measure could very well outspend those in support, Governor O’Malley said he hoped the mayor’s donation would encourage others to give as well. “A contribution as generous as this is certainly a big help to us,” he said. In an email that went out on Friday morning to supporters in the state, Bloomberg wrote “I do not believe that government has any business telling one class of couples that they cannot marry…The next great barrier to full equality under the law is marriage equality. There is no doubt in my mind this barrier will fall, just as so many others have.”