A Conversation with Cinemark over LGBT Rights

In the wake of revelations that Cinemark's CEO, Alan Stock, contributed almost $10,000 to the "Yes on 8" campaign in California, LGBT rights activists launched a boycott of the theater.  The campaign, known as "No Milk for Cinemark" was a way to protest Stock's gift to anti-gay groups, while also preventing Cinemark from making a profit off of the movie "Milk," about the legendary LGBT rights leader, Harvey Milk.

Some LGBT groups, including Queer Liberaction, have continued to call for a boycott of Cinemark, until their CEO publicly apologizes for the donation, or Cinemark changes its workplace policies to better foster equal rights.  Other groups, however, have started a dialogue with the company, in hopes that LGBT rights leaders and the mega-movie chain can come to some sort of common ground in the wake of Alan Stock's Prop 8 support.

A group of Plano, Texas LGBT representatives met with Cinemark officials (Cinemark is based in Plano) to discuss Cinemark's workplace practices surrounding LGBT issues.  The groups represented the Collin County Gay and Lesbian Alliance, the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce and the Resource Center of Dallas, and they met with Cinemark's Chief Operating Officer, Tim Warner.  Though the meeting didn't produce any breakthrough policy changes or public apologies from Cinemark, the meeting was seen as a launching pad for Cinemark to get more involved in corporate equality practices.

As Tony Vedda, President of the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce told the Dallas Voice, "Our goal is to open a dialogue with Cinemark and see if we could help guide them into the corporate world that supports equality, like so many of our other local corporations.  That was our goal, and we were successful in starting a dialogue. It was, I think, a very successful meeting, and we’ll be continuing to work with them."

This certainly does boil down to a question of tactics.  Is it better to dialogue with Cinemark in hopes that - despite the political contributions of their CEO - that the organization might improve working conditions for LGBT employees?  Or is it better for a large scale, complete boycott of Cinemark, in hopes that sustained resistance to the movie chain pressures them into providing better workplace benefits and rights for LGBT employees?  In all honesty, I lean toward the boycott (mostly because I see the lessons and the successes of the boycott against Coors in the 1970s championed by, among others, Harvey Milk).  But I appreciate the efforts at dialogue, even if it makes the process of obtaining equal rights much more slower and conciliatory than my style.  We'll see what happens with the future of Cinemark and LGBT rights.