Gold's Gym San Francisco Denounces Anti-Gay Donation of Robert Rowling

by Michael Jones · 2010-10-25 14:01:00 UTC
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As we noted last week, Robert Rowling, the head of TRT Holdings, the company that owns Gold's Gym and Omni Hotels, has given a huge chunk of change to a new political organization founded by Karl Rove. That organization is American Crossroads, and it's working to elect a bevy of anti-gay politicians around the country, including Sharron Angle in Nevada and Roy Blunt in Missouri.

According to this Politico article, Rowling has given upwards of $2 million to American Crossroads, from both corporate and personal accounts. And that fact has caught the eye of a number of LGBT people, particularly those who are customers at Gold's Gym, worried that their membership fees might be trickling back to a corporate honcho with some serious anti-gay political positions.

A lot of blogs and news outlets have picked up this story, with many making a very good case that customers should check with their local Gold's Gym franchise for more information. Let's steal Joe Jervis' point about this, which he made on his blog JoeMyGod: "Some Gold's Gyms are corporate owned, others are very LGBT-supportive locally-owned franchises. Check with your Gold's before you make any moves."

That's what a number of folks in the Bay Area have done, calling on the four Gold's Gyms in the region to respond to the anti-gay political donations of Rowling. Today, Gold's Gym Bay Area responded, via a message on their Facebook page. And they have a message for Rowling: we don't support your decision to give money to help elect politicians who label gay people "perverts" or want to preserve the Defense of Marriage Act.

"Gold's Gym San Francisco has long been a pillar of the gay community. We will continue to be. It is very unfortunate that the CEO of TRT holdings has chosen this course of action. We do not support it in any way," the Gold's Gym Bay Area Facebook note explains. "Our company has worked for over twenty years to support our LGBT staff, members and community in everyway possible and we will continue to."

But the posting didn't end there. Gold's Gym Bay Area spelled out three steps they're going to take in response to Rowling's political work.

The three steps are as follows:

1: Our contractual obligation with Gold's Gym expires on September 15th, 2012 and on or prior to that date (our legal counsel is reviewing our options) we will leave the Gold's Gym brand. It is a major initiative to create a new brand and leave Gold's Gym which has been our identity for over 20 years but we will begin that process today.

2: For every dollar we pay Gold's Gym in franchise fees we will donate an equal or greater amount to LGBT charities. While we donate much more than this to charities and community groups that support the LGBT community we want to make a commitment to match or exceed this amount until our relationship with Gold's Gym can be severed.

3: Our management and staff will continue to support LGBT causes in every way possible and we will use our business as a platform to fight for change and equality for everyone. We have always taken great pride in being a leader in the LGBT community and we will continue to.

Wow. Talk about standing up for equality, and standing up against the post-Citizens United world we live in, where company execs can infuse our political system with huge wads of corporate cash.

The full post from Gold's Gym Bay Area can be viewed here.

Photo credit: Roberto Verzo

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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