August 10, 2009

Public Pressure Makes Tim Hortons Pull Anti-LGBT Sponsorship!


From Change.org:

Folks, this is huge. In the past 17 hours, we've had more than 1,600 folks send letters to Tim Hortons, asking why a franchise in Rhode Island was sponsoring an anti-LGBT festival hosted by the National Organization for Marriage. Well, guess what? Tim Hortons has answered our emails, loud and clear. Here's the message that just came in from their company headquarters.

Tim Hortons responds to inquiries about Rhode Island event sponsorship

Recently, Tim Hortons was approached in Rhode Island to provide free coffee and products for a local event, as we do thousands of times a year across Canada and the United States.

For 45 years, Tim Hortons and its store owners have practiced a philosophy of giving back to the communities in which we operate. As a company, our primary focus is on helping children and supporting fundraising events for non-profit organizations and registered charities.

For this reason, Tim Hortons has not sponsored those representing religious groups, political affiliates or lobby groups.

It has come to our attention that the Rhode Island event organizer and purpose of the event fall outside of our sponsorship guidelines. As such, Tim Hortons can not provide support at the event.

Tim Hortons and its store owners have always welcomed all families and communities to its restaurants and will continue to do so. We apologize for any misunderstanding or inconvenience this may have caused.

Now that's the power of social media and social action! In a moment, I'm going to post an action (and will update this post) so that folks can thank Tim Hortons for responding to the inquiries from its LGBT (and straight ally) customers. This is great news, folks, and thanks again for taking action.

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