Gold's Gym Faces Backlash After CEO Gives to GOP Group
CBS News ^ | October 26, 2010 | Stephanie Condon
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Four Gold's Gym franchises in the San Francisco Bay Area are abandoning their brand after learning that their parent company's owner made a large, private donation to American Crossroads, the conservative political group that backs candidates opposed to expanding gay rights.
Billionaire Robert Rowling, CEO of TRT Holdings, which owns Gold's, has given more than $2 million this election cycle to American Crossroads, the third party organization with ties to former Bush strategist Karl Rove.
Reports of Rowling's significant donations to American Crossroads angered some franchise owners, who said the donations betrayed Gold's strong ties to the gay community.
"Gold's Gym San Francisco has long been a pillar of the gay community. We will continue to be," Don Dickerson, the director of operations for Gold's Gym Bay Area, wrote in a Facebook note. "It is very unfortunate that the CEO of TRT Holdings has chosen this course of action. We do not support it in any way."
Dickerson wrote that four Bay Area Gold's Gyms will allow their contractual obligations with Gold's Gym International to expire in 2012, if they are not able to end them sooner. On top of that, the franchises plan to match every dollar paid in Gold's Gym in franchise fees with a donation of equal or greater size to LGBT charities.
Rowling's donations also spurred an online petition, which now has more than 4,000 signatures, calling on Gold's to stop its corporate executives from "taking money from customers and spending it in order to elect anti-gay politicians."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
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