In the battle against North Carolina’s recent amendment to ban gay marriage, not one executive of a Fortune 500 company spoke out — even as an individual — against it. Silence reigned at Bank of America, Duke Energy, VF Corporation or Lowe’s.

Bob Page, gay founder of Replacements Limited, did lobby legislators, contribute about $250,000 to the cause, rented a billboard along the interstate near its headquarters, and sold tee shirts.

In Maiden, NC just down the road from Greensboro, Charles C. Worley, pastor of the Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, N.C., preached on May 13 that lesbians and gays should be quarantined behind electrified fences. “In a few years, they’ll die out,” Mr. Worley said. “They can’t reproduce.” Video of the sermon circulated on the Internet.

Read more about Bob Page’s journey to authenticity at the NY Times. What caught our eye is that Bob and his partner Dale Frederiksen have adopted twin boys — now 13 — from Vietnam. Technically only Page is the parent because North Carolina doesn’t permit gay adoption. Page and Frederiksen have been together 23 years.

Replacements China — which I swear by — has annual sales of $80 million and creates jobs for 450 people in North Carolina.

Mr. Page has a long history of business accolades, being named North Carolina’s small-business person of the year by the Small Business Administration in 1986. Inc. Magazine’s “Inc. 500” included Replacements China in 1986; in 2004 the firm made Fast Company’s “Fast 50”. It was cited in 2002 by the Advocate magazine as one of the top 10 gay-friendly companies in America. “Hundreds of local construction workers completed an expansion that nearly doubled the size of its warehouse to 500,000 square feet. It holds over 13 million items.”

Probably no fact in this article about Page and Replacements China says more about Page’s principles than the fact that the owner of a company with revenues of $80 million drives a Ford Explorer with 146,000 miles on it. Not only has success not gone to Page’s head, he remains deeply committed to changing the values of his community towards gays and lesbians.

Mr. Page says he’s an advocate of tolerance, which has improved in North Carolina, inspite of people like pastor Charles C. Worley.

“I love children, and it tears me apart when I think about these young kids and teens who are committing suicide, like the young guy at Rutgers who jumped off the bridge. This doesn’t have to happen. I want things to be better for other people than it was for me. I truly hope things will be better, and I want to do my part to make things better for those coming after us.”

While the majority of Americans now favor gay marriage by a small margin, those national approvals come from vast majorities of people in the Northeast States and the West Coast.

Yet, when over 2,000 protestors lined the streets of Newton’s Southwest Boulevard last Sunday morning, to protest Pastor Worley’s May 13 sermon calling for the extinction of gays and lesbians, they weren’t from New York or San Francisco.

“Hopefully our protest today will send a message that we, as a community, as a state and as a country, will not stand in the background in silent acceptance,” said Catawba Valley Citizens Against Hate member Laura Tipton. “This protest has grown beyond Pastor Worley. I hope his congregation sees that we are gathering in love. Their messages are wrong, and we will not accept them.”

Related reading: Worley’s Anti-Gay Rant and Comparisons to Hitler Lincoln Mitchell on Huffington Post