An open letter to the LGBT community:
I nearly choked on my Miller Genuine Draft a few weeks ago, when I opened Windy City Times to see a full-page ad for Coors Beer. It doesn't surprise me to see Coors courting LGBT sales; they've been doing that for years. It does surprise me that WCT took the ad.
Coors has a long history of funding anti-gay politicians and initiatives. In the 1970s, the gay community began calling for a boycott in order to publicize how really, really bad their anti-gay efforts were. Coors responded by funding a number of cash-starved gay organizations while continuing to make their much, much larger donations to anti-gay efforts. They're doing the same today. Don't just believe me; get on to Wikipedia and search 'Morris Kight,' one of our early gay activists. He successfully protested against Coors and tried to educate us about their 'smoke and mirrors' tactics almost 30 years ago when Coors tried to sponsor Outfest in San Francisco ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Kight ) .
Coors wanted the gay dollar back then and they want it today, only more so. We represent a huge profit to them. To get those profits they've instituted a number of positive changes for their employees including adopting a non-discrimination policy and adding domestic-partner benefits. Coors is once again sponsoring gay events. While these are positive changes, they're still just smoke and mirrors. To prove it, just follow the profits and see where they're spent.
What does Coors do with their profits? Coors continues to fund anti-gay politicians and initiatives in a HUGE way. The only difference is that these days Coors does it behind our backs.
Coors Brewing Company—Adolph Coors Foundation—Castle Rock Foundation. They are like Siamese Triplets. They're all connected at their heads. The money flows from your gay beer purchase through their brewing company and into the hands of the Coors family, who funnel it through their foundations to fight against lesbians, gay men, bisexual, transgendered, Black, Latino, immigrants, women … well, the list is endless. They spend huge amounts on very conservative, far-right-wing issues. Check it out yourself by Googling 'Coors Boycott' or visiting any of the Web sites below. In the meantime, don't spend your money on Coors Beer or its other brands: Killians, Keystone, Zima, Blue Moon and Extra Gold.
If you support lesbian rights, gay rights, bisexual or transgender rights, don't buy Coors. If you support immigration reform, affirmative action, or any other liberal issues, do not give Coors any of your money.
Coors supports right-wing, conservative issues and funds anti-gay efforts. Read if for yourself at:
www.corporations.org/coors
www.bamn.com/boycott-coors
www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/MEChA/coors.htm
Chuck Renslow
Coors Boycott is BS
Windy City Times asked Coors for a response and the following was sent from MergeMedia Group.
And by BS, I mean 'backward and silly.'
As a national board member of GLAAD, I suggest that the best thing Chuck Renslow can do for gay causes is to get current with the facts.
Chuck wants you to boycott Coors because of decades-old grievances against the founding family. But the Coors family has not managed the company in years! And they have been replaced by one of the most progressive organizations in the brewing world.
Coors was the first brewery to extend same-sex couple benefits, and the first to include transgender protection in their internal policies. And Coors has been awarded a perfect 100 score from HRC [ the Human Rights Campaign ] for the past four years and is listed as one of the best places to work.
One hopes Chuck is simply behind the times and that his heart is in the right place. I have seen first hand the good that Coors does in our community here in Dallas.
So to all those who have seen Renslow's call for a boycott, I say, 'Boycott the BS boycott.' By buying Coors, you're actually supporting a company that is committed to real progress in our community.
Thanks for your time,
Dawn Meifert, Lesbian CEO, MergeMedia Group
www.mergemediagroup.com
