Sue,
Since you imply that we as a community should spend our dollars elsewhere, could you please research and provide info to us on other theaters in the Pittsburgh area, where
1) the companies have an official no-discrimination policy based on sexual preference; and
2) the executives and employees of said corporation have not made donations to any causes that are adverse to the gay community?

(Yeah, my point is, the company is already supportive of our community. The company should not be held accountable for the personal contributions of its employees.

For that matter, if I consider hiring you as a dog-sitter, would you be comfortable showing me your tax return and charitable donation receipts so that I could make sure I agree with all the causes you support? I didn't think so. :-)

Bob

Hi Bob. Thanks for commenting.

First of all, you make a good point about gay-positive indicators in the local business community. There is plenty of information available on the national level through the HRC and a lot of detail on donors for and against Prop 8. But Pittsburgh's queer business community is not highly organized and has not made a priority to tackle some of these issues.

For my part, in terms of movie theaters, I would say you could follow the money in terms of companies that support the Pittsburgh Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. I know that the Southside Works has been very supportive as has the Harris Theater downtown. So that's one indicator. The Cinemagic Theaters in Squirrel Hill show a lot of gay sensibility. It would be worth exploring if someone had the resources, but I guess that's the best we can do.

I would like to see evidence to support your claim that "the company is already supportive of our community." They made no such claim in our correspondence. Perhaps they will make that information available to me in a future letter. If you can do that, I promise to share it here and on the national blogs that have picked up this little local story.

This wasn't just any employee. It was the CEO. He made a $10,000 contribution. That's incredibly significant and it does reflect on his employer. By showing the film "Milk" he is clearly trying to bring gay $$ into his coffers. Why would we finance our own oppression?

The use of the term "sexual preference" to describe the LGBTQ community underscores my point. That's ignorance at best and thinly veiled disgust at worst. If you can't be bothered to use the appropriate language when corresponding with your customers about gay issues, how much do you really value our dollars? Really?

If you think any dogsitter is making $10,000 donations to any causes, you don't understand the economics of pet care services. LOL. I would love to be in that situation. LOL

You know, not to sound paranoid, but it's certainly not unheard of for companies to astroturf and try and muddy the waters on blogs. No idea if Bob was a paid astroturfer or not, but it's definitely something to consider when evaluating the merits of his statement.

Oh don't worry about that. I know exactly where Bob came from. The IP address and referrals tell all. Let's just sit back and wait for the proof of how gay supportive Cinemark has been.

One thing to keep in mind if Cinemark is your only option is that Netflix recently partnered with the Logo Channel to exclusively distribute their original material. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117986541.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

So there are options for those who seem to have no options.