Wall Street Talks Gay Rights at Davos

Paul Singer

While the Bible thumpers, theocrats at The Family Foundation, and Tea Party Neanderthals in Virginia are already shrieking and whining over Attorney General Mark Herring's decision to seek to have the Marshall-Newman Amendment and state statutory gay marriage bans invalidated, some of the most powerful players on Wall Street were taking their support for gay equality to the world stage.  The reality is that outside of ignorant regions of the world - e.g., parts of Africa and Middle Eastern nations - and dictatorships like Russia, the world is changing and it is time for the GOP and modern businesses to wake up.  Truth be told, the opponents of gay equality are today's equivalent of the racists who vowed "segregation forever" and clung to professed religious belief to support bigotry.  The New York Times looks at events in Davos.  Here are highlights:

When the World Economic Forum made “inclusiveness” one of its pillar themes, it was safe to assume the assembled corporate leaders would discuss economic issues.

But two of the busiest activist hedge fund managers on Wall Street spent 90 minutes on Thursday morning debating the state of gay, lesbian and transgender rights with an international array of activists. (You can watch video of the event.)

The financiers, Daniel S. Loeb of Third Point and Paul E. Singer of Elliott Management, were among the presenters and sponsors of the event. During their part of the debate, both men spoke of the seeming unlikelihood that prominent investors would take a stand on gay rights.

Mr. Singer recounted how his son told him he was gay at the age of 21, prompting him to examine the issue of gay rights. Despite being one of the biggest donors to the Republican party — as the host, the journalist Fareed Zakaria, jokingly put it, the financier is both politically conservative and “really rich” — he has become one of the most active gay marriage proponents in finance.

When asked if he used his influence on politicians to push a pro-gay-marriage agenda, however, Mr. Singer demurred. But he added that would-be political beneficiaries are aware of his work.

For Mr. Loeb, whose wife’s best friends are a lesbian couple and who was enlisted into the fight by Mr. Singer, the playbook for gay-rights campaigns was little different from the battles he has waged at companies like Sotheby’s and Yahoo. There’s the financial lever, spending money to promote one’s agenda; the legal lever; and then there’s social pressure to advance one’s cause. “It’s not cool to be anti-gay,” he declared.

“As an activist, it resonated to see the levers that can be pushed,” Mr. Loeb said.

Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, called for a little activism at the Forum.

“Fifty feet across the street is President Jonathan,” he said. “He wants your business. Ensure that you ask the questions.”

Thursday’s discussion drew in an array of high-profile attendees of the Forum, including Sir Richard Branson; William Browder, the head of the hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management and a critic of the Kremlin; and Brad Smith, Microsoft’s top in-house lawyer.