Marriage protest at General Mills

Posted at 3:16 PM on June 26, 2012 by Tom Scheck (14 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2012, Marriage Amendment

(Minnesota for Marriage staffer Tim Gould is stacking General Mills products that will be donated to a local food shelf. MPR Photo/Tom Scheck

About fifty people protested outside of General Mills headquarters in Golden Valley today to speak out against the company's opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota. Chuck Darrell, with the group Minnesota for Marriage, said he believes General Mills should stay out of the debate.

"The purpose of the rally is to send a message to General Mills and all Minnesota companies that marriage matters to a majority of Minnesotans," Darrell said.

The group will be holding similar protests each of the next three days. Organizers asking supporters to deliver their General Mills products to a local food shelf.
John Ruiter from Edgerton, Minnesota drove two hours to attend the protest. He said he's no longer buying General Mills products.

"Here's a huge corporation that's making a statement that's actually favoring a minority of people," Ruiter said. "The majority of the people that do business with General Mills, and they are families, with children. As far as I'm concerned, we won't buy any of their products anymore."

It's unclear whether the protests will have any impact on General Mills' bottom line. The Fortune 500 company had $15 billion in sales worldwide in 2011.

General Mills spokesman Tom Forsythe declined to answer questions but released a written statement saying the company acknowledges the strongly held views on all sides of the amendment debate.

"We respect and defend the right of others to disagree," Forsythe said in the statement. "But General Mills has worked to create an inclusive culture for our employees for decades. As a Minnesota-based company, we believe it is important for Minnesota to be viewed as inclusive and welcoming as well."

The debate over the proposed marriage amendment is expected to be one of the most contentious in this year's campaign.

MPR's Heather Beckius contributed to this report...

Comments (14)

So nice to see all those beautiful General Mills products supporting ALL Minnesota families and feeding the hungry. General Mills is a great corporate citizen and understands that fair minded Minnesotans do not support adding discriminatory language to our constitution.

Posted by BAB | June 26, 2012 9:01 PM

That's OK. I (household of one) will buy more General Mills products and donate them to a food shelf (SACA in my neighborhood is always in need of food donations). Not sure why a company who chooses NOT to discriminate is seen as not meeting the needs of Minnesotans!

Posted by Carlotta Stomberg | June 26, 2012 11:12 PM

It's nice to see a major Minnesota Company supporting all their employees and all their customers instead of joining the efforts use our State Constitution to foster discrimination against some of our citizens. I will be picking General Mills products over other similar products whenever I can. Thanks General Mills.

Posted by Sally Burns | June 27, 2012 8:36 AM

Went out and BOUGHT a bunch of General Mills products yesterday and delivered them to the rally in SUPPORT of General Mills. Not wanting to lose sales to General Mills, KRAFT FOODS came out against the amendment yesterday.

Posted by Jerry Elliott | June 27, 2012 8:59 AM

Best part of the General Mills protest is the anti-gay-marriage folks holding up "Defend Marriage" shields with the outline figures of …two women! http://kare11.tv/MUsRQ4

Posted by Ralph Crammedin | June 27, 2012 10:12 AM

Who would have ever thought that General Mills was an anti-social organization...promoting the exclusion of children from a breakfast table where they are sitting with their mother and father. A compassionate corporation would not be purposefully supporting the creation of motherless and fatherless families.

In place of being socially irresponsible, such a corporation needs to be support society by supporting marriage. Would the shareholders expect any less?

Posted by JeremiahA | June 27, 2012 11:22 AM

General Mills is not anti social Jeremaih you are for exclusion not general mills they want all family's to be fed. Your a bigot who wants to exclude what you disagree with. Shame on you!!

Posted by Joyce | June 27, 2012 5:53 PM

Joyce, you disagree with marriage supporters, yet are you willing to include them? Are you willing to allow them to only recognize marriages and not same-sex, group, polygamous, or incestuous marriages? Then you are excluding them and are a bigot as well, according to your standard. Therefore, shame on you!!

And if General Mills is so inclusive, why are they not supporting bisexuals who wish to marry more than one of their partners? Why do same-sex marriage activists also deny these bisexuals? I guess this is really not about "equality," is it...

Posted by JeremiahA | June 27, 2012 11:12 PM

I guess General Mills isn't "inclusive" or supportive of Minnesota families that stand for tradition marriage. Ironic that.

Posted by Jay McHue | June 28, 2012 12:15 AM

*traditional (in my defense, it IS 12:16 AM)

Posted by Jay McHue | June 28, 2012 12:16 AM

*traditional

In my defense, it IS after midnight.

Posted by Jay McHue | June 28, 2012 12:19 AM

traditional

In my defense, it IS after midnight.

Posted by Jay McHue | June 28, 2012 12:20 AM

"Best part of the General Mills protest is the anti-gay-marriage folks holding up "Defend Marriage" shields with the outline figures of …two women! "

Look again, Ralphy. The one on the left is obviously a man and the one on the right is a woman.

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