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October 27, 2008
Apple publicly opposes constitutional ban on same sex marraige...
... says the issue is of civil rights not political.
Apple has made a couple statements at this point regarding their opposition to California's proposition 8. This one comes directly off their website:
"Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8."
It's pretty much unheard of for a company in today's political climate to make such a statement as currently adorns their website regarding prop 8. Furthermore, Apple has backed their belief by donating $100,000 to the campaign opposing this proposition. Makes you wonder why doesn't it?
Well, when we follow the money, we see that in recent years Apple has been gaining a gay-friendly image (no surprises here and all is right with the world considering Cracker Barrel is amongst the least gay-friendly on the list). Gay consumers have strong spending resources and the ability to take a brand to elite status according to a book one of my relatives wrote.
I doubt gay people made Apple elite, but their touches can clearly be seen on Steve Job's wardrobe. That aside, I think Apple's price tag made it elite, along with a higher level of functionality and refining touches in the OS. Much like a Lexus ES09 is considered an elite luxury car whereas the exact same car when branded as a Toyota Camry and stripped of some of the clever electronics is considered a consumer grade car.
Apple's elitist image could also be the result of their workhorse nature in some really nat fields like Graphic & Web Design, Video & Photo Editing, or Music.
Perhaps its all of these things. Perhaps it's the rainbow colored Apple logo of yore that draws the gays in, who knows.
All I know is that, it's both comforting and a little strange to see a company take a stand on such a polarizing political debate. It's a little bit scary to see companies lobby because I start to worry about things like a Corporate state or Social Security brought to you by Coca Cola... but hey, they claim they are doing this as the company considers it a non-issue, basic human right, and supporting their employees. It certainly doesn't hurt my overall agenda so I'm down. Go Apple for not only making the statement but backing it financially as well. Lord knows spending money after your stock halves is concerning to any company.
Oh, btw, Apple bought out Texan's belief on this same topic with a new office building back in 93. I have to imagine this was a much cheaper route.
Posted by Decemberice at October 27, 2008 10:49 AM