Bolthouse Farms Has a Change of Heart

LGBT activists have been protesting against fruit drink producer Bolthouse Farms over the founders 100k contribution to proposition 8.

LGBT activist Lane Hudson has been advising Bolthouse Farms for the last month. From his email to Joe My God it lists improvements that Bolthouse has made internally:

"Bolthouse Farms sponsored the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force LA Awards Brunch as a Gold Sponsor and the CEO personally contributed $5K to their No on 8 work. Bolthouse Farms was also a corporate table sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner.

"In addition, they have clarified their non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation. They also clarified their benefits policy to include dependent children of same sex relationships. They also edited their website, corporate philosophy and corporate mission to reflect what a consumer products company should be. It's a great deal of progress since the new CEO took the reigns a mere 12 weeks ago and since I began advising him a month ago."

These are very positive changes! Thank you all for your continued activism in urging them to be a socially responsible corporation. Californians Against Hate who have been the leaders in this boycott and calling for change have declared an end to the boycott and protests.

Demonstration Against Bolthouse Farms in Hollywood, California

We reported a few months ago that William Bolthouse donated $100,000 to proposition 8 to amend California's state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Now Californian's Against Hate is asking activists to join in protesting and calling for a boycott against Bolthouse Farms.

Contact Bolthouse and let them know you will boycott them:
http://www.bolthouse.com/ContactUs.aspx

Boycott Bolthouse Farms

"Bakersfield carrot farmer William Bolthouse donated $100,000 to an initiative aiming to fight gay marriage — a measure that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot along with the presidential race. The initiative qualified for the ballot Monday, less than a month after the state Supreme Court overturned a ban on gay marriage. June 17 marks the date when California counties will be permitted to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The National Organization for Marriage California donated $700,000 to the campaign. One of the organization’s largest financial contributors includes Bolthouse, who declined to comment about his donation Tuesday. The measure’s proponents said the campaign to promote the initiative may exceed $30 million. Supporters have spent about $1.8 million to collect signatures and publicize the initiative, according to campaign filings. Other supporters include San Diego developer Terry Caster ($172,000); hotel developer Manchester Financial Group of San Diego ($125,000); Fieldstead and Co. of Irvine ($400,000) and Knights of Columbus Headquarters in Connecticut ($250,000).

According to Wikipedia, Bolthouse sold a 57% majority stake in the company two years ago but his family still controls the remainder."

Contact Bolthouse and let them know you will boycott them:
http://www.bolthouse.com/ContactUs.aspx

H/T to JoeMyGod for the story.