The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced this morning that it will throw financial support to the Log Cabin Republicans, a group that advocates for gay issues inside the Republican party.
CEA’s support is notable given its importance inside the technology industry — perhaps you have heard of CES; its members include Google, Apple, Microsoft and others. With the move, a massive slice of the technology industry now, at least implicitly, backs the group’s goal to “advance the interests of the gay and lesbian community within the Republican Party of the United States of America.”
It’s hardly news that the technology industry isn’t socially conservative. Apple, Google and Microsoft have each spoken in favor of marriage equality in the past. So to see a group that they belong to begin to support the Log Cabin Republicans isn’t surprising. But the CEA is more than those firms, meaning that hundreds of companies now have to make a choice: Leave CEA or watch a slice of their membership fees support the group. I don’t expect anything approaching an exodus, but this is an interesting line-in-the-sand moment.
The Log Cabin Republicans recently announced that it will boycott the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) due to its discrimination against formal participation of gay conservatives. The group noted that while anyone can attend CPAC as a paying attendee, given its discriminatory policies, it will steer clear.
Money is fuel in politics. And now, even more tech money is pressing the issue of equality. Not bad for a Monday.
IMAGE BY FLICKR USER Jason Cipriani UNDER CC BY 2.0 LICENSE (IMAGE HAS BEEN CROPPED)