LGBT and women’s rights groups are taking note of who backs who, and this evening Mark Zuckerberg is hosting a fundraiser for New Jersey governor, Chris Christie (R-NJ) at his home in Palo Alto. Groups are taking to the web and the streets in protest of Zuckerberg’s implied support for the governor.
Chris Christie has a history of being against same-sex marriage and on women’s issues Christie is regularly a source of setback. Whether it’s slashing funding for reproductive care in the name of budget conservatism or crushing health insurance funds to be “fiscally responsible”, Christie repeatedly and consistently places himself on the far right and away from reasonable behavior. He is known for “cutting” remarks and crass rhetoric. Often, he employs being from Jersey as an excuse for his rude demeanor.
So why is Mark Zuckerberg entertaining the governor?
In 2010, Facebook’s CEO donated $100 million to Newark, NJ public schools and since then Zuckerberg has been involved with candidates from both sides of the aisle. It seems that Zuckerberg’s interest is in seeing improvements to education.
Association with Christie comes with a price though and Zuckerberg, who some estimate is worth more than $9 billion, should be aware of the cost. A petition has been started online for Zuckerber to defriend Christie and protesters plan to demonstrate outside of Zuckerberg’s home from 5:30-6:00 p.m.
Protesters are calling for Zuckerberg to make a definitive statement regarding his support or denouncement of Christie’s policies regarding LGBT and women’s issues because, at this point, Zuckerberg’s silence will be viewed as endorsement.
