Grin and beer it?
A friend of mine recently pestered me to write a thank-you note to Coors Beer Company for underwriting the annual Thanksgiving and Christmas food fest hosted by the Center on Halsted and enjoyed by members of the LGBT community.
Why can't he write his own letter of gratitude? I have too much pride to concede anything to Coors. The Coors Beer family funds to this day various right-wing organizations that throw at us their hate speech. Here is a family corporation that would go out of its way to attack the Legal Services Corporation for providing legal assistance to gays and lesbians who wish to adopt. Coors so shamelessly looks the other way as it secretly pours money into the pockets of right-wingers vowing to nullify the Supreme Court decision to strike down Texas' anti-gay "Homosexual Conduct" law.
Such continued anti-gay advocacy on the part of Coors and its blatant right-wing financial giveaways only contributes to furthering violence against gays and lesbians on the street. Those Coors Beer casks have blood all over them.
From 1997 to 2000 Coors has poured $150,000 into The Free Congress Foundation, whose leader has publicly blamed gay men for the spread of AIDS. Of course, we all know about the 1977 AFL-CIO boycott of Coors Beer for its history of challenging gay rights through their right wing dollars. The dollar profit from Coors Beer sales in the LGBT community suffered as a consequence more than the Coors family would like to admit.
To be sure, it decided to throw a bone our way, adopting in 1978 corporate language against discrimination on account of sexual orientation in employment. Certainly, the Coors corporate board likes to play both sides of the fence. The bottom line is and always will be the dollar amount it can squeeze out of our community even as it professes to be our friends.
In a certain sense, Coors has gone underground with its anti-gay line, masking its identity through the Castle Rock Foundation and the almighty Heritage Foundation. Family member Jeffrey Coors was, at one time, the chair of the Free Congress Foundation, whose website post, "Declaration of Cultural Independence," makes it blatantly clear: "Television 'normalizes' every deviance, including homosexuality and the divestment of the traditional rules of men and women." There are all sorts of ways homophobic corporate America can launder its money to make it appear "clean" and its benevolence shine. To my friend I wish the very best of luck. However, at least for me, some beer just isn't worth drinking still.
Craig Teichen
Chicago
Righting a wrong
To the Editor:
Colin Collette, fired from his job as music director at a church in Inverness for announcing his impending same-sex marriage, has finally decided to call out the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago for its rank bigotry and discrimination by filing a job discrimination complaint. Reportedly, it was Archbishop Francis George who told the church's pastor to fire Collette. Now that the stridently anti-gay George is mercifully out as Catholic boss in Chicago, will the supposedly more accepting Blase Cupich act to rectify the wrong done to Collette?
Collette's lawyer said that Cupich has not "reached out" to his client, and I saw Cupich dodge a reporter's question about the matter by saying that Collette's complaint will be "addressed in the appropriate forum." No doubt, lawyers for Cupich will deliver the bad news to Collette that he remains persona non grata in archdiocesan circles by citing a "religious freedom" exemption to his equal civil rights. And Cupich will keep on schmoozing reporters and smiling at parishioners.
Personality differences and welcoming words cannot erase the bigotry and discrimination at the heart of Catholic teaching and practice.
Bob Schwartz
Chicago