Who is Funding Anti-Gay Hate Groups in Iowa? Meet the Wells Family/Blue Bunny Ice Cream

As regular readers know, I am a strong advocate of using the strength of the LGBT buying power - not to mention that of our allies - to punish companies and/or their controlling shareholders for funding anti-gay bigotry. In Iowa the Family Leader is about as virulently anti-gay as you can get and its mouth piece, three-time failed gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats, is a font of anti-gay nastiness. For those living under a stone, Family Leader recently wanted GOP presidential candidates to affirm that homosexuality is a choice and that African American children enjoyed stronger families during the period of slavery than under the Obama administration. As with NOM, one cannot help but wonder who is providing the funding to allow such groups and individuals to constantly spew hate and intolerance. Think Progress has an expose that reveals the number one financial backer of hate and bigotry in Iowa: the Wells family, the power behind Wells Dairy, which is the third largest ice cream maker in the United States and sells its products under the Blue Bunny label. In addition, Wells licenses the Weight Watchers brand of ice creams, sells Chef Duff’s ice cream (of Ace of Cakes fame), and partners with Disney to offer Disney-branded novelties. My advice to readers? Boycott Wells products and contact Disney and similar customers and ask that they change suppliers. Here are some highlights from Think Progress:
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The FAMiLY LEADER’s controversial 14-point marriage fidelity pledge has caused a rift within the Republican party and led several GOP insiders and 2012 presidential candidates to raise concerns about the group’s extreme conservative ideology and social beliefs. Aside from asking the party to affirm that homosexuality is a choice and that African American children enjoyed stronger families during the period of slavery, the group’s president — three-time failed gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats — has also been caught suggesting that President Obama was born in Kenya and breaking out in laughter at a homophobic faggot joke.
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Yet Vander Plaats would have floundered in obscurity had it not been for the backing of well-connected and deep-pocketed donors, particularly the Wells family behind Wells Dairy. The company, headquartered in Le Mars, Iowa, is the third largest ice cream maker in the United States and sells its products under the Blue Bunny label. Wells Dairy has 5 percent market share behind Nestlé (Häagen-Dazs, Dreyer’s, Mövenpick) and Unilever (Ben & Jerry’s and Breyers Ice Cream), licenses the Weight Watchers brand of ice creams, sells Chef Duff’s ice cream (of Ace of Cakes fame), and partners with Disney to offer Disney-branded novelties. But the Wells family is interested in more than frozen desserts. Mike Wells, the president and CEO of the company, was a member of Vander Plaats’ council of advisers during his gubernatorial campaign and public records reveal that Wells family members have contributed at least $456,000 to Vander Plaats and his affiliated organizations and campaigns.
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Mike and his wife Cheryl Wells have also started at least two ministries, including The Living Center and Side by Side Ministries, aimed at spreading “the Word of God to others.”