2726741671_c854705963_m.thumbnail.jpgWay to go, Mike Rogers at BlogActive.com! The scribe, nicknamed "the most feared man on the hill" by the Washington Post, noticed that a franchisee of Subway–the world’s second largest fast food chain–had donated $2,500 to California’s Yes on 8 campaign and he got busy:

When I saw a franchisee of an international company gave $2,500 to opponents of equality, I immediately knew I would require someone at the company’s world HQ to address this.

Mike kept the company’s name out of his original post, choosing instead to approach them discreetly over the matter. Subway has a history of contributing to various causes supported by the LGBT community including food for charitable events. He made three demands with a Monday deadline:

    1. Repudiate the gift.
    2. Add sexual orientation and gender identity to the corporation’s non-discrimination policy.
    3. Give an equal gift to the opposing side.

Subway Director of Corporate Communications Michele DiNello responded to the three demands, sending a letter to the franchisee:

You should also be aware that your franchise agreement prohibits your use of the SUBWAY trademark as part of your business or corporate name. Further, it states that you agree to ‘…not use the Trademark in a manner that degrades, diminishes, or detracts from the goodwill of the business associated with the Trademark’ and ‘to promptly change the manner of such use if requested to do so by us’…

DiNello goes on to say:

We are changing the discrimination policy language and that includes anything we add through headquarters human resources, not just in the field. The company used the exact language you gave us.

The franchisee called Yes on 8 and asked for her donation to eliminate marriage rights be refunded, though she did point out  Subway would have no control if an individual franchisee gave a personal gift to a political cause.

Now if we could get BlogActive.com to talk to Elton John…

[H/T PageOneQ  which is also published by Mike]