“I have been closely tracking NOM for over four years,” Fred Karger, a LGBT rights activist said. “NOM always tries to hide the names of its donors and often breaks state election reporting laws in the process. NOM is currently under active investigations for election law violations in Maine and California”
A boiling point seems to have been reached in America, and corporations which have a history of donating to anti-equality causes are coming under fire in every spectrum of the economy. Now the owner of Amway, Doug DeVos, is under scrutiny for donating more than $500,000 to the National Organization for Marriage — otherwise known to the media as NOM. DeVos has managed to stay under the radar by funneling this money through the “Douglas & Maria DeVos Foundation.”
Currently a nationwide boycott is being planned.
The Raw Story has the details:
NOM was formed in 2007 to pass Proposition 8 in California, a constitutional amendment to prohibit same sex marriage. The organization has fought against proposals in numerous states to legalize same sex marriage and allow same sex couples to adopt children. NOM came under fire earlier this year when strategy documents released as part of an investigation detailed the organization’s plan to “drive a wedge between gays and blacks.”
“With four crucial gay marriage elections coming up on November 6 we feel that an Amway Boycott will send a message to Amway owners and other potential mega-donors that if you plan to give lots of money to anti-LGBT organizations like NOM or directly to the November anti-gay marriage campaigns we may well take action against you,” Karger said.
The company’s political donations are nothing new. Amway’s founding families have been described as “fervently conservative, fervently Christian, and hugely influential in the Republican Party.” The company has donated millions to conservative causes.
The DeVo family has a history of donating to religious fundamentalist groups. It remains to be seen if this boycott will do anything to persuade them to change their policies but in this political climate of irritable consumers all things are possible.
Amway sponsors hate
