The coverage seems to mention the WNBA team more, but the company owns the Magic as well.

Pat Williams, senior vice president of RDV Sports -- parent company of the WNBA's Miracle and the NBA's Magic -- sent a form letter to the Orlando City Commission on July 2 to voice his opposition to Chapter 57, an amendment that would add sexual orientation to the City of Orlando's anti-discrimination ordinance. It was on plain letterhead but sent in an RDV Sports envelope and stamped by the company's mail meter. A protest has been planned before tonight's WNBA game.

Some links from the Orlando Sentinel:

8/7 - Williams opposes Orlando ordinance for gays

8/8 update - Williams doesn't waver

Text of Williams letter

Miracle market to gays

I am a little lost on this one: it seems that Williams esxpressed his personal opinions in the letter rather than the official views of RDV Sports. Sort of "the opinions expressed do not represent the opinions & views of..." Am I wrong about that? Has anyone else from RDV spoken out?

~Adam

That's what it seems--and it wasn't really his own thought-out opinion. It's just a form letter he got from his church. But being in the company envelope and mailed on the company stamp meter has made people wonder. No one else has spoken out on it.

When I was a higher education reporter in Grand Rapids, M.I. I did a story in which Rich DeVos, owner of the Magic, said he was opposed to benefits for same sex partners. However, I also know Mr. DeVos, a native of Grand Rapids, has done significan AIDS charity work. With that said, I could see RDV Sports resisting such an amendment based on what I know of religious convictions of DeVos and Williams.

Z

Here is the story. Take from it what you will
Z

Front Page
Lubbers' retreat tied to upset donors To allay the fears of major contributors, including
Richard DeVos, the GVSU president backs away from his plan for benefits to
homosexual partners.
LZ Granderson / The Grand Rapids Press

09/26/2000
The Grand Rapids Press
2
A1
(Copyright 2000)


Facing the possible loss of millions of dollars in donations for a new health sciences
building, Grand Valley State University President Arend Lubbers backed off plans to offer
benefits to partners of homosexual employees.

Lubbers on Monday, in his first extended comments since reversing himself three days
earlier, repeatedly denied he even talked to major donors before backing down.

But Amway co-founder and billionaire Richard DeVos, who is critical of the plan, confirmed
he and Lubbers talked several times after it became public in The Press on Sept. 13.

DeVos -- who donated $7.75 million for GVSU's new Richard M. DeVos Center downtown
and is in charge of raising $15 million for the new health building near Heritage Hill -- said
he did not know about the benefits prior to that day.

"I told him to obey the law of the land," DeVos said of his conversations with Lubbers. "This
country is geared around heterosexual marriage and, to my knowledge, only one state has
changed."

DeVos said he did not threaten to withdraw donations. But he would not comment on
whether he would continue to give GVSU money had Lubbers gone through with his plans.

He reportedly has been considering a $10 million gift for the health sciences building,
planned for the northeast corner of Michigan Street and Lafayette Avenue NE. Ground
breaking is set for next summer.

A second local philanthropist, Peter Cook, is also said to be concerned about the policy.
Cook, who reportedly is considering a $3 million gift, could not be reached for comment.

Lubbers, after learning DeVos confirmed their conversations, contacted The Press to say
he misunderstood earlier questions. Matt McLogan, vice president for university relations,
said Lubbers' weak hearing aid may have contributed to the misunderstanding.

"(DeVos) did not threaten to withhold any funds," Lubbers said. "He just told me what he
thought about the matter ... but I made up my own mind and did what I thought was best for
the university."

Lubbers said during a Monday press conference that he pulled the plug because of the
controversy surrounding the issue.

Lubbers had made his intentions know to a number of people on campus, but said he was
"naive" to the kind of response it would receive after he confirmed the plan to The Press.

He said his office received calls from angry donors and from parents saying they would
withdraw their children from the school.

DeVos said he had a number of concerns about offering benefits to partners of
homosexuals.

"I do not support homosexual marriage, but don't confuse that with not liking people who
happen to be gay," DeVos said. "I deal with and respect a lot of gay people, but I do not
endorse their relationships."

DeVos said because gay relationships are not legally binding, it would be difficult to
determine a lifelong partnership for benefit purposes. If approved, he also said the benefits
should be offered to heterosexual partners who are not married.

"The homosexual community is always demonstrating and asking for special benefits," he
said.

None of the school's other big supporters -- Robert Pew, David Frey, Fred Meijer or Peter
Secchia -- said they talked to Lubbers at any length about the benefits.

Secchia, who donates to Michigan State University, which does offer the benefits, said
giving money to the school does not mean he is involved with policy.

"I don't have a dog in this fight," Secchia said. "What's right is right and this is an issue we
are discussing all over the world."

Scott Richardson, assistant vice president for human resources at GVSU, estimated if 10
couples among the university's 1,200 employees were to take advantage of the plan, it may
cost the school $33,000.

But chances are the school would not have seen that many, he said. Of the 29,000
employees at the University of Michigan, fewer than 200 take advantage of benefits for
same-sex partners, according to a U-M spokesperson.

One person who might have taken advantage of the GVSU benefits is Christine Yared.

Yared is a former faculty member who -- while working for school last year-- had a partner
and two children that weren't covered. She is now a private lawyer and is co-founder of
Grand Rapids Against Discrimination, an organization that helped stop a recent effort to
overturn the Grand Rapids gay-rights ordinance.

She said the group has begun mobilizing in response to the school's about face. She also
said she is disappointed in Lubbers' decision.

"What's worse?" she said. "Knowing that (Lubbers) backed down to a dozen angry callers
or that a major donor did say they would pull funds and he's not being very forthright with
us?"

"How are gay faculty, staff and students supposed to stand up to the heat on campus if the
president, with all of his resources, doesn't?"

While media coverage on the benefits picked up two weeks ago, word about the
administration's interest in the matter were public nearly four years ago in a report
distributed by the school's Women's Commission.

The report analyzed gender equity on campus and prompted the school to award $250,000
in pay raises to 71 professors and administrators. Among other issues the organization
wanted Lubbers to explore were a women's center -- which he talked about during his
University address earlier this month -- and same-sex benefits.

Lubbers had been meeting with a group of faculty and staff for at least three years, working
on the details of the benefits, and the board unanimously voted to include sexual
orientation under the school's equal opportunity policy two years ago.

Donna Brooks, chairwoman of the board, said she supports benefits for same-sex partners
and believes GVSU will eventually offer it.

"The board is supporting him in the decision now," Brooks said. "It's just going to have to
take time. It's an issue that certainly is prevalent throughout the (country)."

Fellow board member Paul Hillegonds also said he supports the benefits but backs the
president's decision.

"I'm sorry the campus did not support the president's initial decision, but I don't see it as the
end of the story," said Hillegonds, a former Republican lawmaker from Holland.

Lubbers said he was abandoning plans for the benefits and that it would be up to the next
president to implement it. He is retiring June 30.

GVSU would have become the ninth state university to offer some form of benefits for
same-sex partners.

They include the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Central Michigan
University. Northern Michigan University in Marquette which approved benefits for
homosexual partners on Friday.

[quote]Originally posted by Zman:
"The homosexual community is always demonstrating and asking for special benefits," he said.

---

This DeVos guy is a disgrace. I don't care what AIDS charity work he did.

[quote] DeVos said because gay relationships are not legally binding, it would be difficult to
determine a lifelong partnership for benefit purposes. If approved, he also said the benefits
should be offered to heterosexual partners who are not married.

---

They say we can't "prove" our relationships because we aren't married, yet they won't let us get married in the first place. Those heteros--sheesh!

Considering that Pat Williams has 18 children (4 of his own and 14 adopted from four different countries) statistically speaking, he could easily be raising a couple of gay children.

If so I hope they wont be harmed by the opposition to an anti-discrimination law.

[ August 09, 2002: Message edited by: sportinlife ]

[quote]"I do not support homosexual marriage, but don't confuse that with not liking people who
happen to be gay," DeVos said. "I deal with and respect a lot of gay people, but I do not
endorse their relationships."

---

Oh brother. So, as long as we're neutered, inoffensive eunuchs, with no *GASP* mention (or worse, making lunkheads like him actually thinking about it) of relationships, he's cool. Idiot. That's like me saying "I don't mind heteros as long as they don't flaunt their wives (by pictures in their cubicle or a wedding band), children (by mentioning them or more pictures) etc". It's a bullshit attempt at spinning their homophobia.

And Wow! We fags are always agitating for our rights! How dare we! We should just be content to be outlaws in 24 states, have no rights when it comes to employment/housing discrimination and worst of all to me, have our relationships devalued. Note the Christian Right codework "special rights"; I guess not getting fired from my job for being gay is a special right.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr................

I'm with you, Jim. You know, some of this hate work, regardless of free speech, is probably the result of lazy ignorance (they have got to know gay people, but don't recognize them as human beings), and sheer delusion in the absence of ANY knowledge of how long we (LGBTS) have been fighting these stakes chess games (for instance, like we just up and decide one morning, for example, to run a gay candidate). :ad: m

Maybe our sports mindsets will prove themselves in these battles as well. Cowardly mailings like Williams' are, in my opinion, just annoyances in the long-term - nevertheless, annoyances that we still have to field.