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LOCAL News :: Civil & Human Rights

Nearly 500 picket Evanston's Century Theatre following CEO's 'Yes on 8' contribution

Evanston, IL — Opponents of California's Proposition 8 continued to pressure for marriage equality by targeting the business of one of its biggest benefactors, Century Theatre in Evanston. Nearly 500 people gathered Saturday in Evanston to picket Century Theatre and send a message to Cinemark's CEO.
Evanston 1.jpg
Photo credit: Michael Lehet
Alan Stock, CEO of Plano, TX-based Cinemark, Inc., the owner of the Century Theater, donated $9999 to Proposition 8. Cinemark which operates Century, CinéArts and Tinseltown theaters is one of the largest theater chains in the country.

"It's no longer open season on LGBT people," said Bob Schwartz of the Gay Liberation Network. "People giving mega-bucks to promote discrimination against our community will now become objects of scorn themselves and they will feel it in the wallet or pocket book as we encourage other supporters of equal rights to cease patronizing your businesses."

After a peaceful protest in front of the theater, the diverse group marched to the Northwestern University campus where they blocked the same entrance to the University that students did in the 60's to protest the Vietnam War.

Gay-rights advocates continue to put the pressure on Cinemark. John Aravosis, editor of political blog Americablog, has called for the boycott of the gay-friendly Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah noting that Sundance uses Cinemark-owned Holiday Village Cinema as one of its biggest screening venues.

"Your Sundance registration money is quite literally helping to subsidize a donation to Yes on 8," said Aravosis.

A national organizer is also planning boycotts of the Cinemark-owned and operated theatres.
[ www.nomilkforcinemark.com/ ]
 
 

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2 Short Videos of the Protest

 

Documenting the Emerging Marriage Equality Movement

As you know, we've seen an explosion of activity since the passage of Prop 8 here in California.
After the election night vigils, the first big wave of actions to take place were the marches and rallies that people organized on their own, with the help of Facebook and this new site that popped up, Join the Impact.

In San Francisco, that meant thousands of people marching through downtown for more than 5 hours one night (11/7), and thousands more at a rally and impromptu march this past Saturday at City Hall. Similar activity has been happening around the U.S., with solidarity actions in Canada and internationally.

While much of this activity in the streets continues to take place, a second wave of activism has become apparent - economic boycotts.

While the established organizations push the CA Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8 and make their plans for 2010, many from the LGBTQ community aren't waiting for their voice to be heard - making it clear that supporting hate isn't publicly admissible.

The fact that so many people have taken it upon themselves to launch boycotts and other activities like flooding YELP, has had a significant impact already, including resignations, statements from high-profile corporations, equal donations to LGBTQ rights groups, and more. So much has been happening, in fact, that it's been hard to keep track of. In order to help facilitate this, I've made a list of everything I could find. Please comment if there are things I've missed!

------- -------

High profile activities:

6 separate California Supreme Court Lawsuit
www.eqca.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx={BFE39EF1-DEE3-4FDD-9D14-390D1335DD79}&notoc=1

1) NCLR, ACLU, Lambda Legal, Equality CA
2) Counties of SF, Santa Clara, Los Angeles and the City of LA
3) Private attorney in LA
4) APALC, NAACP, MALDEF, Equal Justice Society
5) CA Council of Churches
6) California Women’s Law Center, Equal Rights Advocates

Join the Impact Rallies (hundreds of thousands of people rallied throughout the U.S. - now writing postcards to Obama)
www.jointheimpact.com
Nov. 15 results: jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Attendance+Totals+(How+Many+Attended+in+Your+City)

Day Without a Gay – Dec. 10
daywithoutagay.org/

Daily protests and demonstrations in many cities.

Ongoing Boycotts:

Manchester Hotels
- Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, CA
- Grand del Mar Resort, San Diego, CA
- Whitetail Club and Resort, McCall, ID
www.boycottmanchesterhotels.com/ (Californians Against Hate)

A-1 Self Storage, 30 locations throughout CA
boycotta-1selfstorage.com/ (Californians Against Hate)

Cinemark, Century, CineArts, and Tinseltown Theaters
www.nomilkforcinemark.com

Hoehn Motors, San Diego, CA
Pre-Nov.4 pickets, phone calls. Post-election phone calls
latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/11/the-boycott-eff.html

El Coyote Restaurant, Los Angeles, CA (controversial)
Phone calls, emails, Nov. 13 protest, numerous facebook groups
shutupiknow.blogspot.com/2008/11/boycott-el-coyote-cafe.html
latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/11/gay-marriage-ba.html
[Management held press conference, distancing themselves from the employee that donated to 8, saying they have many gay employees and customers, and the company donated to Lambda Legal and the LA GLBT Center. Some boycott activity ongoing.]

Boycott/Move Sundance Festival (is in Utah and uses a Cinemark theater)
movesundance.com/
news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20081115/en_celeb_eo/68992
perezhilton.com/2008-11-16-boycott-sundance

Wolfe’s Market, Claremont, CA
www.facebook.com/group.php

Lassen’s Health Food Stores, Southern California www.facebook.com/group.php

Kroger’s, Ralph’s, etc. Supermarkets (controversial) www.facebook.com/group.php

Averted Boycotts:

Bolthouse Farms
[Settlement w/ Californians Against Hate - $110,000 donated to GLBT causes]
www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1859323,00.html

California Musical Theatre, Sacramento, CA – Gay Artists, including Marc Shaiman (Hairspray) and Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) Threatened Boycott
[Scott Eckern, Artistic Director, Resigned & Donated to HRC]
Resignation Letter:
www.ibtimes.com/prnews/20081112/scott-eckern-releases-statement-and-announces-resignation-as-artistic-director-for-california-musica.htm

Subway Food Chain – Blogger Privately Threatened Boycott
[Settlement – donator requested money back, company upgraded Anti-Discrimination policy, sent letter to 30,000 franchisees]
pageoneq.com/news/2008/International_food_chain_111808.html

Companies Issuing Precautionary Messages

Marriott
www.blogs.marriott.com/default.asp

Other Activities:

Human Rights Campaign Town-Halls on Next Steps Against Prop 8
www.hrc.org/news/11575.htm

Mormons writing opposition letters, including resignation from the Church
signingforsomething.org/

Campaign to take away the tax-exempt status from the Mormon Church
www.mormonsstoleourrights.com/

YELP negative reviews of companies donating to Prop 8.
[YELP management issued statement, started actively deleting prop 8 comments]
abclocal.go.com/kgo/story

Notable Petitions:

Courage Campaign / MoveOn / CREDO (300,000+)
www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/repealprop8
Equality California
www.eqca.org/petition

-- Got something to add? Pleast post latest from your area at
[ www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/11/23/18552662.php ]
 
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