Gold's Gym Becomes Fitness SF Following 2010 Anti-Gay Donations
http://sfist.com/2012/09/18/golds_gym_becomes_fitness_sf_follow.php
As promised, Gold's Gym this weekwill become Fitness SF as its contract with the Gold's brand
has just run out. Some of you may recall that in 2010, Gold's Gym members (the
vast majority of whom, in SF at least, are homosexual) were shocked to learn
that the CEO of the gym's parent company had made
donations to the conservative group American Crossroads, which was founded
by Karl Rove. At the time, the local franchisee, which runs the two San
Francisco Gold's Gyms as well as the branches in Oakland and San Rafael, pledged
to cut ties with the brand as soon as its current contract expired, which would
be September 15, 2012. And that time has come.
Following
the outcry from Gold's largely gay clientele, the gym's director of operations
Don Dickerson said that "For every dollar we pay Gold's Gym in franchise fees we
will donate an equal or greater amount to LGBT charities," and further pledged
to form a new brand, now named Fitness SF, which would take effect as soon as
the Gold's contract ran out.
Robert
Rowling, the billionaire CEO of TRT Holdings which owns the Gold's brand as well
as Omni Hotels, says that he donated to Rove's organization solely out of his
belief in "fiscal sanity" and not for any anti-gay reasons. Also, he made the $2
million donation in his own name, not under the aegis of his company. Gold's
members, knowing how Rove has cynically used homophobic policies and
anti-gay-marriage rhetoric to win elections for Republicans over the years, were
unmoved, and a signature denouncing the company gained over 10,000
signatures.
Dickerson
just told CBS that he's proud to have been able to stand by the two-year-old
decision, scrubbing the local Gold's locations of their branding as of this
week. "Very rarely in a situation like this does a business stand up and
actually take a position on the matter ... Our company has worked for over
twenty years to support our LGBT staff, members and community in everyway
possible and we will continue to."
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