op-ed
Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD.
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June 03, 2004

Coors Brewing Company responded today to calls by gays and lesbians for boycotts of Coors beer. In a press release, Coors Brewing Company spokesperson Laura Sankey asked gay media to separate the political positions of Pete Coors from Coors Brewing Company.

"Pete Coors is on an unpaid leave of absence from Coors Brewing Company in order to run for the U.S. Senate. As a candidate, he'll likely be in the position of expressing views on political issues on which it is inappropriate for Coors Brewing Company to have a position."

Sankey is, of course, referring to avid support from Pete Coors for a Federal Marriage Amendment that writes discriminatory language into the United States Constitution. Sankey's release selectively asks subscribed gay media to separate Coors Brewing Company from Pete Coors, but doesn't seem to mind Pete Coors publicly marrying his company with his candidacy when it benefits his candidacy and divisive politics.

If you are looking online for a copy of the release, forget it. I'm not posting it until Coors has the guts to post it themselves. John Tuttle, the Assistant Managing Editor of U.S. Newswire, told me Coors Brewing Company has requested the release not be posted and was not distributed through any other service. Why? Coors Brewing Company wants only subscribed gay media to be reminded via email that they are gay friendly, not the Republican voters of Colorado that prefer the version of Coors Brewing Company that Pete Coors is selling.

Coors Brewing Company apparently doesn't care the general public associates the disgraceful attacks on equal rights by Pete Coors with Coors Brewing Company because the confusion will help get Pete elected. But they do care if gays and lesbians make that association and decide not to buy their products.

Norman Provizer, political science professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver, had this to say in today's Rocky Mountain News about Pete Coors association with the company his family worked hard to build:

"You have somebody running as a successful businessman who has no track record in any essential part of the political realm," he said of Coors. Attacks on his stewardship of the company should be expected, Provizer said, especially since Coors often cites his business acumen in campaign appearances.

The first two words describing Coors in his own campaign literature are entrepreneur and businessman. Coors' first television spot, which began Tuesday, touts him as someone who "learned about business from the ground up."

I agree.

At the heart of Pete Coors eagerness to represent Colorado in the United States Senate is a company Mr. Coors is eager to marry with his public image and, regrettably, his divisive politics.

Mr. Coors is very comfortable with that poor choice. Until Coors Brewing Company publicly repudiates in a widely posted and distributed press release the divisive politics Mr. Coors is associating with his family's business, the associations Pete Coors is selling in his bid for Senate will stand.

Chicago gay bars boycott Coors Co.
By Steve Raabe
Denver Post
May 26, 2004

View the "What Are Your Really Buying" ad placed by Chicago gay bars

Coors says he'd support proposal to ban gay marriages
By Gwen Florio
Rocky Mountain News
May 25, 2004

Browse the shameful comments made by supporters of the Federal Marriage Amendment in Community Quotes.