The megadonor bankrolling the LGBT movement and its allies in the Democratic Party says he will continue to “punish the wicked” who hold traditional views about sexual morality. Despite the legalization of gay marriage in all 50 states, tech millionaire Tim Gill said he is not satisfied with the movement’s progress. He plans to use his immense wealth, corporate influence and political network to target red states with laws protecting religious people who disagree with the LGBT movement’s worldview.
“We’re going into the hardest states in the country,” Mr. Gill said, according to an interview published by Rolling Stone June 23. “We’re going to punish the wicked.” Mr. Gill said his effort to block religious-freedom bills in Southern states has already paid off. Last year, the Gill Foundation rallied more than 100 corporations, including Coca-Cola, Google and Marriott, behind a front group called Georgia Prospers. Threatening to pull business out of the state, the coalition successfully lobbied Republican Gov. Nathan Deal into vetoing a Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“You can get money from outside, but the state has to own it,” Mr. Gill said of the strategy. Mr. Gill is a software programmer who made his fortune during the dot-com boom and has since poured more than $400 million into advancing the LGBT movement. The Rolling Stonearticle recounts a May 2016 meeting in Manhattan attended by Mr. Gill, other prominent gay-rights donors and then-vice president Joseph Biden. At the time, Mr. Gill said he was focused on defeating then-North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, in his reelection bid. Mr. McCrory had signed a state law regulating public restrooms, locker rooms and other intimate facilities on the basis of biological sex. Opponents of the legislation said it discriminated against transgender people. The strategy in North Carolina mirrored the one employed in Georgia. Companies ranging from PayPal to the National Basketball Association pulled commerce out of the state to pressure lawmakers into repealing the bathroom bill.
