To me one of the clearest targets for the Prop. H8 boycotts and protests is Cinemark.  Their CEO Alan Stock gave $9,999 to tear apart my family; that’s my ticket money recycled to attack me.

One facebook group has popped up to boycott the movie Milk at any Cinemark Theater.  Another is calling for a boycott of all Cinemark films, and a national picket on January 15, the opening day of Sundance, where Cinemark’s Park City theater will be under protest by lgbt allies.

Now they’re worried.  How do we know?  They sent out the house gay to make nice!

Bill Shimmin is a corporate Vice President of Cinemark (for “food and drink” hilariously enough).  His PR firm wrote this letter begging the gays to be nice.  Check it out:

Here’s the appeal-to-emotion intro:

As a gay man and as a vice president at Cinemark Theatres (whose CEO, Alan Stock, has been singled out in blogs for his $9,999 pro-Prop 8 donation), this controversy has weighed heavily on me.

Two years ago, I was hired by Alan Stock, and my life partner and I relocated to Plano, Tex., from the San Francisco bay area.  Moving to Plano and effectively leaving behind our cherished Domestic Partnership document, signed by California’s Secretary of State, took much consideration. As did the prospect of leaving the progressive Bay Area for life in a “red state.”

Here’s the money quote for why Cinemark isn’t bad guys, other than funding H8:

However, I quickly discovered – and the past two years have confirmed – that Cinemark Theatres is committed to treating its team members, customers, and colleagues with dignity and respect.

During my job interviews, I discovered that Cinemark has an LGBT liaison for community outreach; Cinemark provides domestic partner benefits for California team members; Cinemark hosts the annual Vancouver Queer Film Festival; and Cinemark works with the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce as well as the Collin County Gay & Lesbian Alliance to arrange advance screenings for movies of interest to the LGBT community.

So yeah…they have a liaison to sell tickets to the gay…they only provide domestic partner benefits when compelled by (California) law…and they work with events and groups to sell tickets to the gays.

Well, gosh, Bill when you put it that way, the need to boycott cinemark becomes even more apparent: gays seem like a major part of their business plan.  Meaning Cinemark is vulnerable to losing their business, and it is all the more offensive when their head ticket-taker skims off some of the pink ticket for his homophobic pet projects.

So please let’s keep the pressure up.  It is important that businesses and businessmen know that attacks on the lgbt community are bad business.  Please make sure that Alan Stock (972) 665-1000 [email protected]  knows that his shareholders’ profits are diving because he decided to strip some customers of their civil rights.