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Donations from the Jolie-Pitts are pouring this week: first,
$2 million to help fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in Ethiopia and now $100,000 to fight Proposition
8, an upcoming California
ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in the state.
Trade paper Variety reports that Brad Pitt’s contribution
has now become the largest from a high-profile individual in the entertainment
business. The hefty sum went to the group Californians Against Eliminating
Basic Rights.
The Hollywood superstar
accompanied the donation with a heartfelt statement. “Because no one has the
right to deny another their life even though they disagree with it, because
everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm
another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for
equality and against Proposition 8,” he said Wednesday.
Other celebrities to have shown solidarity with the cause –
also putting their money where their mouths are – include David Geffen, who
donated $50,000 and Bryan Lourd, co-chairman of Creative Artists Agency, who
contributed $5,000, reports Variety.
Trevor Neilson, Angelina Jolie and Pitt’s political and
philanthropic adviser, told the trade paper that Pitt considers this a “human
rights issue and an issue of justice.” He told the Associated Press that Pitt
was surprised there were not more donations from individuals in the
entertainment industry supporting the battle against Proposition 8.
Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts
and California
but this could change for the latter state should the November ballot
initiative be successful and overturn the state Supreme Court decision
legalizing same-sex marriage.
Brad Pitt famously told Esquire magazine two years ago, when
questioned about his relationship with Angelina Jolie, that they would
“consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be
married is legally able.”
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