The Top 22 Gay Marriage Supporters in Business Today

This week, the Supreme Court is hearing two landmark cases on the issue of same-sex marriage that may change the current government definition of marriage as we know it. The heavy-hitters who have financed the battle to legalize same-sex marriage is a politically diverse group of business people that may shock some. Democratic and Republican donors are equally represented on Benzinga's list of top financiers for the cause, with many Republicans displaying a libertarian streak by joining progressives in endorsing same-sex marriage proposals in states across the country with millions of dollars in support. Here are the big names you need to know: Cliff Asness A quantitative financial theorist who founded a systematic trading hedge fund in his time at Goldman Sachs GS, Asness currently runs his hedge fund in AQR Capital Management. Asness joined forces with four other wealthy Republicans, providing a pivotal $1.5 million donation to the "Win More States Fund" of the New York-based Freedom to Marry. The five wealthy libertarian Republicans are considered to be the major financiers of the successful effort to legalize same-sex marriage in New York state. Jeff Bezos As Benzinga reported in our list of Top Libertarian CEOs in Business Today, the Amazon AMZN CEO made his biggest splash in activism to-date with a record $2.5 million contribution to defend Washington state's same-sex marriage law in 2012. Steven Cohen A billionaire Republican and former federal prosecutor who served as New York governor Andrew Cuomo's right-hand man, The New York Times credits Cohen with "direct[ing] the administration's effort to legalize same-sex marriage."
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer In 2012, the diehard progressive Gates and his fellow Microsoft MSFT co-founder Steve Ballmer joined forces to defend same-sex marriage in Washington, contributing $100,000 each. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). David Geffen The openly gay media mogul and billionaire David Geffen has contributed $1.5 million to support gay marriage efforts in California. Outside of several record companies, Geffen was one of three founders of DreamWorks Studios, now owned by Viacom VIAB. Tim Gill Colorado software millionaire Tim Gill founded Quark Inc., in 2004. An extremely dedicated activist, Gill committed $10 million in support of LGBT issues in 2006 alone, and in 2010, raised $800,000 for a pro-LGBT organization he founded. More recently, Gill put down $25,000 to defeat local Colorado candidates who opposed same-sex marriage. Peter Lewis The chairman of insurance giant Progressive PGR is a diehard liberal donor who also happens to have a son that is homosexual. For years, he's donated millions to support the same-sex marriage cause. Daniel Loeb Loeb is a Yahoo! YHOO investor who now runs Third Point LLC, a New York-based hedge fund with $11.6 billion in assets. Loeb joined Asness, Cohen and two other billionaire Republicans with liberal social views, posting a $1.5 million donation that helped fuel New York's same-sex marriage victory in 2012. John Morgridge The billionaire chairman of Cisco Systems CSCO -- once CEO of the company -- has been an active financier of gay marriage campaigns. In 2008, he helped back the movement against Proposition 8 in California. Michael Moritz Moritz is a big-time venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital, whose investments have included Apple AAPL, Oracle ORCL, Electronic Arts EA, LinkedIn LNKD and many others. In 2008, he was included in a petition favoring marriage equality in California.
Pierre Omidyar The founder of eBay EBAY, Omidyar has become a dedicated philanthropist, backing the "No on 8" movement and attaching his name to the petition urging California voters to support marriage equality. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). Larry Page and Sergey Brin The Google GOOG co-founders have been active supporters of same-sex marriage. In 2008, Bern and Page donated $100,000 and $40,000, respectively, to defeat Proposition 8. Steven Roth Conservative billionaire Steven Roth is a real estate developer and has a son that is homosexual. Together with his wife, the Roth family has donated a total of $33,600, supporting Republican New York state senators who backed same-sex marriage.
Eric Schmidt Schmidt is the Executive Chairman at Google, serving as the tech giant's CEO from 2001 to 2011. A major Obama supporter, Schmidt attached his name attached his name to the "No on 8" petition featuring tech giants like eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and venture capitalist Michael Moritz. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). Howard Schultz The Starbucks SBUX CEO made major headlines in the last few days for taking on a stakeholder who didn't like Schultz's public endorsement of same-sex marriage. The company, in an effort spearheaded by Schultz, defended Washington state's same-sex marriage provisions in 2012.
Paul Singer Like Roth, Singer also has a gay son. Despite his support of Mitt Romney in 2012, the head of Elliott Management Corporation -- a hedge fund -- joined joined four other Republican donors including Cliff Asness, contributing $1.5 million toward legalizing gay marriage in New York state. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). Jeffrey Skoll Skoll was once the president at eBay. He was also one of the bigger names who opposed Proposition 8 in California, which would have outlawed same-sex marriage. Jon Stryker The heir of Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Stryker Corporation SYK founder Homer, Jon and his sister committed a combined $1.85 million in efforts to legalize same-sex marriage back in 2006. In 2010, Styker contributed $602,000 in support of LGBT rights and two years later, he gave he gave $325,000 to defeat a Minnesota measure which would have made same-sex marriage illegal.
Peter Thiel The founder of PayPal is an openly gay libertarian who has been active in causes to legalize his same-sex marriage. Thiel also helped found GOProud, an organization representing conservative/libertarian gays, lesbians and their allies. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). Jeffrey Yang and David Filo Yahoo's co-founders, Yang and Filo, joined Pierre Omidyar, Eric Schmidt and others in their backing of the "No on 8" movement that opposed California's Proposition 8 back in 2008.