Third Highest Donor Against Marriage Equality in California Hails from Pennsylvania

from Californians Against Hate, a web site that is helping the country to know who gave the $36 million to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign that ended same-sex marriage in California. The web site has posted all major donors who gave $5,000 and more, many much more! It has taken public information from the California Secretary of State’s Office.

Unfortunately, one of the largest contributions came from a Pennsylvania couple:

John Templeton, Jr./Josephine Templeton, Bryn Mawr, PA
300 Conshohocken State Road, Suite 500, West Conshohocken, PA 19428 • Tel: 610.941.2828

$1,100,000

John Templeton, Jr., Chairman and President of the John Templeton Foundation, gave: $450,000 on 8/19 (to NOM), $450,000 on 8/19 (to Protect Marriage), $100,000 on 10/8/08 and $100,000 on 10/29/08.

John Templeton, Jr. is the son of the late John Marks Templeton. John, Sr. was born in Winchester, Tennessee in 1912, and made his fortune through the Templeton Funds that he started and later sold in 1992 to Franklin Group for $440 million. John, Jr. is now the President of the John Templeton Foundation which has nearly $1.5 billion in assets, and gave away $70 million in grants in 2007. The Foundation funds research into “life’s biggest questions,” including science, religion, ultimate reality and wisdom.

John Templeton, Jr. founded and is Chairman of 'Let Freedom Ring, Inc.,' a far right think-tank that he set up in 2004 with a $1 million donation. He is a member of the Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which made news when they were forced to leave their Philadelphia headquarters due to a conflict between Philadelphia’s non-discrimination policy, and that of the Boy Scouts, which allows discrimination of gays.