Bill Gates, one of co-founders of Microsoft, has donated a large amount of money to support the campaign to uphold  Washington State's new gay marriage law.

Steve Ballmer, the other co-founder of the company, also made a contribution of $100,000, which is the same amount that Gates has given. The gay marriage law is set to face a referendum vote in November.

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Zach Silk, campaign manager for Washington United for Marriage, said to CNSnews.com that the checks were made on Friday and are waiting to be
reported to the state Public Disclosure Commission on Monday afternoon.
"It's going to make a tremendous difference," Silk told The Associated Press.
"It's very important for us to have the broad support from business leaders and companies themselves."

Microsoft is not the only company that shows its support for same-sex marriage - several other prominent companies such as Starbucks Corp. and Nike Inc. have made contributions.
Gay marriage opponents successfully had Referendum 74 certified when they received 240,000 signatures.
While they needed minimum 120,577 valid voter signatures, the result was nearly twice the number.

Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church led the campaign in gathering the signatures.

The referendum aims to repeal the same-sex marriage law, which was passed in the beginning of this year in the state. The law, signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire in February to be effective on June 7th, was held from going into effect when 240,000 people signed for opposition.

Hutcheson told The Christian Post that this is not the first time a Microsoft officer or executive has donated a sizable contribution to support homosexual rights.

"The homosexual community has a tremendous amount of influence on the company," he claimed.

In the early years of launching Microsoft, there was a man called Ric Weiland, who helped Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Weiland made a
great fortune by doing so.
He left $65 millions to several gay rights organizations before he committed suicide due to depression in 2006.

Even though same-sex marriage is supported by the wealthy companies, Hutcherson is confident that the more people who support traditional
marriage will come to the ballot box in November.

"My warning to the folks supporting Referendum 74 is they have picked a fight like they've never seen before," Hutcherson told CP.
"The fight to protect marriage is not about money, it's about motivating Christians to get out and vote."
"Microsoft does exert a tremendous amount of influence out here so it is important that Christians mobilize for this election," he stated.