March 6, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
Equality California, a San Francisco group that advocates for gay rights, raised about $1.2-million in a campaign against a 2008 ballot measure that sought to ban same-sex marriage in the state. The organization created an online “gift registry” and invited gay couples to register there to celebrate an anniversary or other important date. Couples created their own Web page in the gift registry where they could post photos, share their personal reactions to Proposition 8, and ask people they know to donate to Equality California instead of buying them a traditional gift.
More than 12,000 relatives and friends of the 2,012 couples who registered on the site made online gifts to Equality California’s “No on 8” campaign, says Jim Carroll, the group’s managing director. “We didn’t think that many people would be so generous as to redirect gifts to the campaign,” he says. “It was a complete surprise; it just went crazy.”
Even now, years later, says Mr. Carroll, Equality California continues to get donations through the online gift registry, as same-sex couples register to commemorate their marriages. And they’re not necessarily Californians, he adds. The registry draws couples from around the country and the world.
