Jon Stryker, a Michigan philanthropist and brother of Fort Collins heiress Pat Stryker, has given $250,000 to the group promoting a domestic partnership measure on the November ballot.

The donation, revealed in the latest campaign finance reports, puts the amount raised so far by Coloradans for Fairness and Equality at nearly $500,000.

The huge donation likely won't be the last in this heated campaign over recognition of gay relationships.

Pat Stryker, who gave a record $3 million in 2002 to defeat an English-only initiative, also has pledged to support Coloradans for Fairness and Equality, which wants voters to give gay couples many of the same benefits and responsibilities extended to married couples.

"Pat will support that campaign," said her assistant, Al Yates.

Tim Gill, software company founder and gay philanthropist, also is expected to add to the $179,000 he's already given to the group as the November election nears.

"The Stryker family has a lot of roots in Colorado, so it's obvious that they'd be interested in how we're really going to make a stand here on a real common-sense approach to fairness for committed couples," said Sean Duffy, executive director of Coloradans for Fairness and Equality. "For them, it's something they really wanted to participate in."

So far, the pro-gay group's fundraising has far outpaced that of its opponents.

Coloradans for Marriage, a coalition of Christian groups pushing a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a heterosexual union, has raised $105,793 this year. More than half of that has come from Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family.

Protecting Colorado Children, a group pushing a ballot measure to cancel the domestic partnership proposal, has raised $8,345. Of that, Focus on the Family gave $6,000, and former Colorado Springs car dealer Will Perkins gave $1,500. Perkins and state Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, formed the group in the spring.

Coloradans for Fairness and Equality is fighting the Lundberg-Perkins measure and the marriage amendment. In addition, the group is collecting voter signatures for a fourth ballot measure that seeks to supersede the Lundberg-Perkins measure.

Jon Paul, executive director of Coloradans for Marriage, said he's not surprised by the Stryker donation.

"We anticipated that they would be outspending us by a significant amount of money. We will counter their money with the people that we have, the ground troops," he said.

The Stryker siblings are the grandchildren of the late Homer Stryker, an orthopedic surgeon who invented the mobile hospital bed.

Jon Stryker, an architect and big donor to Democratic campaigns, lives in Kalamazoo, Mich., where the Stryker company is based. He could not be reached for comment.

He is described by Forbes magazine as the 428th richest person in the world, worth $1.8 billion. In 2000, he founded the Kalamazoo-based Arcus Foundation, which supports gay and lesbian groups across the country, sanctuaries for Great Apes, and organizations that improve conditions in southwest Michigan.

Its largest single donation in 2005 was $2 million to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, according to its Web site.

Pat Stryker is a well-known contributor to Colorado campaigns. Last year, she gave $280,000 to the campaigns for Referendums C and D. And in 2004, she joined Gill and others in financing efforts that led to control of the state legislature by Democrats.

Money for ballot groups

Donations to three organizations working on ballot measures concerning gay relationships:

Group Raised last month This year

Coloradans for Fairness and Equality $268,772 $498,390

Coloradans for Marriage $4,165 $105,793

Protecting Colorado Children $4,320 $8,345Source: Colorado Secretary Of State'S Web Site

kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2361

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