Keywords

Mary Cheney

Gender, Politics

I didn’t know the full story:

Well over a decade ago she was a PR rep for Coors,” called into action to repair the damage caused by one of the most successful boycotts in U.S. history and don’t you forget it for a nanosecond!

The Coors family is, as the say, to the right of Atilla the Hun. They utilized their earnings to create and fund anti-gay orgs back in the 70’s and made no secret of that fact. Gay liberation … responded by calling for a boycott of Coors” beer. Almost overnight gay and lesbian bars nationwide refused to stock the swill, and gays and lesbians from sea to shining sea refused to buy it.

It worked.

And so by the mid-80’s the company, desperate for good PR, tried a new tack. They pretended the Coors family wasn’t really involved with the Coors” company. They declared an end to sexual orientation discrimination in their hiring practices, going so far as to offer same-sex partner benefits to gay and lesbian employees. And they hired Mary Cheney to go all around the country hat in hand to tell gay/lesbian orgs that Coors” had mended its ways and that it’s (awful) beer was now OK to drink.

It didn’t work.

But Mary Cheney gave it all she had, and established a name for herself as an out” and presumably proud, daughter of a Conservative Republican.

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