Boycott of Cinemark Theatres By LGBT Community To End At The Beginning Of 2010

A boycott of Cinemark theaters following a donation by their CEO Alan Stock to the campaign for the passing of Proposition 8 is set to end at the beginning of 2010.

A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, Stock gave $10,000 to the cause to get gay marriage banned, but leaders of the boycott have now said that they will end their protest following the announcement by Cinemark Theaters that they were planning to extend employee benefits to the spouses of their gay and lesbian employees on January1st 2010.

Dave Hayes, founder of San Francisco Movie Bears, a group said in a post of the group’s website that it was a step in the right direction and they were pleased with the decision “but we plan to keep a close eye on them and Mr. Stock, believing their action has cost Cinemark over $20,000.

The founder of Californians Against Hate, Fred Karger, agreed saying that similar boycotts had also been effective due to the spending power that the LGBT community and their friends have, and had seen many corporations perform a 180° on their policies following such action.