A list of Who is Funding California's #8 antigay marriage proposition

[Ichingcarpenter]

Sent to me from a friend, pass it on!



California Proposition 8, on the November ballot seeks to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. ImageThis would nullify the recent court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. To date (as of July 16, 2008), ProtectMarriage.com has raised $3,547,548. Here is a list of the donors with total contributions over $1,000. A separate table provides details of contributions to the largest donor, National Organization for Marriage:

http://www.tips-q.com/content/so-who-funding-proposition-8

[Ian David]

1. One of those companies makes organic bottled juices sold at Whole Foods.

LGBT blogger: Don't let anti-gay juicemaker squeeze your civil rights

That organic smoothie can be tough to swallow when it's choking your civil rights at the ballot box.

Alex Blaze, Managing Editor of The Bilerico Project, reported, with further research, that a major owner of Bolthouse Farms, an organic juicer, has put $100,000 behind Initiative 07-0068, also known as the "California Marriage Protection Act," which calls on voters to undo marriage rights for same-sex couples that were affirmed by the California Supreme Court on May 15.

William Bolthouse, with proceeds from the sale of his company's organic juices in stores such as Whole Foods, gave the money to the Alliance Defense Fund, which has been active in the California courts in attempting to overturn the recent ruling, and in opposing a new suit, filed by Equality California, arguing that rules for revising the state's constitution were not properly followed in putting the initiative on the ballot.

While a businessman can use his money to attack your rights, says blogger and Bilerico Project founder Bil Browning, an informed consumer can speak just as loudly by redirecting his hard-earned money. Browning's call to action has also been picked up by the Huffington Post, Pam's House Blend, Daily Kos, and Barack Obama's campaign website.

Blaze, in addition, has united with Pride At Work to inform LGBT Californians of the effects their purchases at the grocer can have on their rights, and to present a petition. "Please take a moment and let Bolthouse Farms and their distributors know that you will no longer be purchasing their organic products," they urge, "because even though they are organic, they come with some nasty side effects."


More:
http://pageoneq.com/news/2008/LGBT_blogger_to_Californians_Dont_let_juicemaker_squeeze_your_civil_ri_0625.html






Please take a moment and let Bolthouse Farms and their distributors know that you will no longer be purchasing their organic products
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/bolthouse

[Dissent Is Patriotic]

5. I just emailed Bolthouse directly. n/t

[Maat]

2. Thanks for the post.

Oh, I see Fieldstead is on there ... connected to the infamous religious hardrightie, Harold Ahmanson (I believe he became weathly due to the sale of Home Savings & Loan).


Quoting Salon (see link below):
At the root of Ahmanson's quirky asceticism and ardent conservatism is his rocky path from cloistered rich kid to Bible-believing philanthropist. Ahmanson's father, Howard Sr., was a savings and loan tycoon whose net worth was valued at over $300 million at the time of his death in 1968. Howard Jr. was only 18 at the time he inherited the fortune. Ejected from his sheltered youth to confront a world suddenly in his palm, the reluctant heir feared that he would never surpass his father's accomplishments; at the same time, he viewed his inherited fortune as a wall separating him from humanity. After wandering the country and the world searching for peace of mind, he returned home in the mid-'70s still a lost soul.

It was then that he found his salvation in the church and in R.J. Rushdoony, a prolific author and an influential theologian of the far right. Rushdoony is the father of Christian Reconstructionism, a strange variant of Calvinism that stresses waging political struggle to put the earth, and in particular the U.S., under the control of biblical law. In his 30-some books, he advocated everything from the end of government-administered social welfare and public schools to the execution of homosexuals. For around 20 years, until Rushdoony's death in 1995, Ahmanson served on the board of his think tank, Chalcedon, granting it a total of $1 million. In exchange, Rushdoony acted as Ahmanson's spiritual advisor, imbuing him with a sense of order and a mission.

Today, Ahmanson says he is more mature than the card-carrying Reconstructionist who told the Orange County Register in 1985: "My goal is the total integration of biblical law into our lives." In brief, written responses to questions I e-mailed to him, he placed special emphasis on his disagreement with Rushdoony's opinion that homosexuals should be executed. "Due to my association with Rushdoony, reporters have often assumed that I agree with him in all applications of the penalties of the Old Testament Law, particularly the stoning of homosexuals," Ahmanson wrote. "My vision for homosexuals is life, not death, not death by stoning or any other form of execution, not a long, lingering, painful death from AIDS, not a violent death by assault, and not a tragic death by suicide. My understanding of Christianity is that we are all broken, in need of healing and restoration. So far as I can tell, the only hope for our healing is through faith in Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection from the dead."

<http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/01/06/ahmanson/index.html>

[Maat]

3. Here's Fieldstead's connection to Ahmanson ...

Quote:
FIELDSTEAD & COMPANY is a front organisation owned and run by Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson, Jr. and his wife, Roberta; the entity, also known as The Fieldstead Institute, has no telephone nor website.

http://wiki.darwincentral.org/tiki-index.php?page=Fieldstead

Quote:
Going through Fieldstead's campaign contributions (he was also one of the principal funders behind Proposition 22, the 2000 measure that the California State Supreme Court recently overturned to allow homosexual nuptuals), we found Ahmanson also gives money to the county's crazy Republicans--last year ...
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/gay-marriage/oc-fundie-funder-gives-money-t/

[damntexdem]

4. Which are the two San Diego hotels?

None of the stories I ahve seen have told me.

[Maat]

6. Here you go ... please focus on end of post. Thanks.

Same-sex marriage proponents urge San Diego hotel boycott

The two targeted properties are owned by a donor to the campaign for a constitutional ban.

By Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 16, 2008

Proponents of same-sex marriage are calling for a boycott of two prominent San Diego hotels because their owner, Doug Manchester, contributed more than $100,000 to the campaign for Proposition 8, the ballot measure that would amend the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-boycott16-2008jul16,0,6535347.story

The problem came up when No on Prop 8 people found that out the owner of Manchester Grand Hyatt, Doug Manchester, contributed $125,000 to Proposition 8. He told the Tribune that when "he had heard that schools that teach that marriage is between a man and a woman could be sued for discriminating against gays" combined with his already-present strong Catholic faith, he decided to donate to the movement. However, he told the paper that gays and lesbians are welcome to his hotels and restaurants.

It should be noted that this boycott is very specific. "Gay rights leaders say they are not targeting the Hyatt Corp. – which operates the Manchester Grand Hyatt – because the company has a good record in hiring and supporting gays and lesbians. But they are singling out the Manchester property."
http://laist.com/2008/07/10/hyatt_hotel_owner_donated_125000_to.php



Gay boycott urged of 2 San Diego hotels
The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 07/10/2008 06:13:37 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO—Same-sex marriage advocates urged travelers Thursday to boycott two hotels owned by a San Diego County businessman who gave $125,000 to a group backing a California ballot initiative to ban gay marriage.

Doug Manchester, who owns the Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego and the Grand Del Mar golf resort near La Jolla, donated the money to the National Organization for Marriage in January.

http://origin1.montereyherald.com/state/ci_9843452?nclick_check=1


For more information:
http://www.californiansagainsthate.com/

[Ysabel]

7. thanks for the list...

sorry that i'm too late to give this thread a rec...

i wonder too if some of those realtors / bankers / doctors etc. on the list discriminate as well (against potential future clients i mean - not just in this instance - i'd be willing to bet that if they're able to get away with it that they probably do) imo that would be interesting / something worthwhile to follow up on / pay very close attention to...

edited: for more specific / further clarification...