The three major groups with GOP ties running ads in favor of the immigration reform effort also support same-sex marriage equality rights, showing more bipartisan backing than some have let on,
ThinkProgress reports.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one of the four Republicans in the Gang of Eight senators who are the main backers of the bill, said the bill was virtually guaranteed not to pass if an amendment were added allowing same-sex couples to get green cards.
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"If that issue is injected into this bill, the bill will fail and the coalition that helped put it together will fall apart," Rubio said last week.
But ThinkProgress, a leftwing website, says it has found top supporters of three of the groups who also support same-sex marriage rights. The groups are FWD.US's Americans for a Conservative Direction, the American Action Network, and the National Immigration Forum Action Fund.
The groups and their donors include:
• Americans for a Conservative Direction: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.US has a conservative and liberal wing supporting the legislation. Donors and co-founders of the conservative wing include Microsoft's Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Google's Eric Scmidt, Napster co-founder Sean Parker, and Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus.
• American Action Network: Founder Fred Malek, American Action Forum President Douglas Holtz-Eakin, board member C. Boyden Gray.
• The National Immigration Forum Action Fund: Hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer.
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