You Don't Care, but here is my email exchange with Cinemark theaters.
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Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 2:52 PM
To: SiteTheatre; Cinemark Site Support
Subject: Contact Us: Other questions
I have unsubscribed myself from Cinemark's showtime email, and I will no
longer patronize your company's theaters because of Mr. Alan Stock's
contribution in favor of California's Proposition 8:
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/marc_malkin/b68992_sundance_film_fests_p
rop_8_headache.html
I'll return to viewing movies at Cinemark Theaters when Mr. Stock -- or
the company itself -- recognizes that I deserve the same civil rights as
anyone else by donating an equivalent amount of money to a political
organization fighting in favor of extending marriage rights to gay and
lesbian couples.
Sincerely,
--[RC]--
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From: Michele Zrno
Date: Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 2:25 PM
Subject: FW: Contact Us: Other questions
Dear Mr. Corcoran,
We received your correspondence regarding your concerns about the
Proposition 8 vote in California. Please know that Cinemark made no
financial contribution to either side on this issue. The company does
not take a formal position on political issues that do not directly
affect our business. It would be inappropriate to influence our
employees' position on personal issues outside the work environment,
especially on political, social or religious activities. Cinemark is
dedicated to providing high quality entertainment for all of our
customers.
As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate based on race,
creed, religion or sexual orientation. We appreciate the importance of
this matter to you. We hope that you equally appreciate that any
individual act or contribution is just that, individual acts of personal
expression and do not reflect company positions or policy.
Kindest regards,
James Meredith
Vice President, Marketing & Communications
Cinemark USA, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 2:21 PM
Subject: Re: FW: Contact Us: Other questions
Ms. Zrno:
Thank you for forwarding Mr. Meredith's comments to me, and I apologize for taking almost a week to respond. Somehow, your email message was caught up in my spam filter, and I did not find it until today.
I would appreciate it if you could forward this response back to Mr. Meredith:
Mr. Meredith:
Thank you for your comments, and I appreciate your company's non-discrimination policy. In fact, I place much more value on your company's policy compared to others because the State of Texas allows employers to legally discriminate against employees on the basis of sexual orientation. I also understand that the Cinemark company did not directly contribute to either side of the Proposition 8 campaign.
However, as a current corporate general counsel and past CEO and chair of the board of two small businesses, I also understand that a company's leadership establishes the culture for that company. Mr. Stock is not simply an employee of your company. He is not an administrative assistant, director, or manager. Like you, he is the public representative of your company, its culture, and its values. And he has great power to determine what your company's corporate values and culture will be.
Mr. Stock believes very strongly that people like me should be prohibited from receiving the civil rights accompanying marriage, rights that the Supreme Court has ruled so fundamental to civic life that even convicted prisoners rotting in jail cannot be denied them. He simply didn't vote in favor of Proposition 8, he contributed $10,000 to the cause. I respect anyone's right to voice and vote upon his conscience and values, including Mr. Stock. At the same time, I have the right as a consumer to determine how to spend my money based on my own conscience and values. I will not willingly turn over my hard-earned cash to a company that will simply pass it along to Mr. Stock, since he might use it in the future to deny my civil rights somewhere else in the country.
If Cinemark wishes to regain me as a patron, then the company will have to do something more than fall back on a simple non-discrimination policy. I will be quite happy to return to Cinemark theaters (which are some of the best theaters I've ever been to) once Mr. Stock or the company itself contributes $10,000 to an organization supporting equal civil rights in marriage for gay and lesbian couples.
Best regards,
--[RC]--
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