Apple, a company known to stand up for such social issues as marriage equality, has terminated its relationship with a lobbyist known to have promoted anti-gay legislation in the Alabama state congress.
Citing records shared by the Alabama Ethics Commission, BuzzFeed reports that Apple first recruited, then cut loose lobbyist Jay Love:
“The hire appeared to create an unusual relationship between a conservative lobbyist known for anti-gay views and a company run by a gay CEO, but the love for Love appears short-lived.”
Buzzfeed notes that Jay Love is “a former state house speaker who sponsored legislation praising a beauty pageant contestant for opposing same-sex marriage”.
Apple, under CEO Tim Cook, has in the past voiced public opposition to anti-gay legislation in Arizona, and has participated in San Francisco’s annual Pride parade. Cook came out publicly as a gay man in a public essay published last year – a first for a Fortune 500 chief executive.
Cook, a native of Alabama, recently spoke at the state’s capital, calling for Alabama to push forward on social equality issues. Cook recently made a sizable personal donation to an LGBT equality group based in Alabama and other southern states.
An Apple spokesperson told Buzzfeed that Love does not work for Apple, nor lobby for the company. A lobbyist liaison official did confirm that former house speaker Love had been registered as a lobbyist for Apple.
Apple, who has increased its investment in lobbyists over the past decade, declined to address the hiring, and subsequent firing of Love.
(Via 9to5Mac)
