In the months leading up to North Carolina’s vote...to ban gay marriage...not one Fortune 500 company based in North Carolina, including Bank of America, Duke Energy, VF Corporation and Lowe’s, opposed it...But one company did: Replacements Limited...Its founder and chairman, Bob Page, is gay. The company lobbied legislators, contributed money to causes supporting gay marriage, rented a billboard along the interstate...and sold T-shirts...Its experience may explain why no other for-profit company followed its example. Hostile letters and e-mails poured into the company from customers canceling their business...Apple, American Apparel, Google and Levi Strauss publicly opposed California’s Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage...[Major] corporations based in Washington State, led by Amazon, Starbucks and Microsoft, have publicly opposed an effort to repeal the state’s law permitting gay marriage...