GAY BOYCOTT IN SAN DIEGO MAY GO NATIONWIDE
by Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ Nat'l. Committee on Diversity
When the California Supreme Court legalized gay marriages effective June 17th, homophobic opponents quickly launched a successful drive to put an initiative on the November ballot to overturn it.
The state's high court carefully analyized the two separate-but-equal conditions under which California laws allowed a couple to unite: "marriage" for straights and "domestic partnerships" for Gays.
The high court held that those laws violated the state's Constitution. It was basically an equal-protection argument, one which also prevailed in Massachursettes and which outlawed separate-but-equal education for blacks and whites in the south years ago.
Gay-rights supporters and their union allies in San Diego - which are numerous - have now launched a boycott of the elegant Manchester Grand Hyatt, a favorite hotel of the rich and famous in downtown San Diego.
Another high-end hotel, the new Grand Del Mar, is also targeted in this boycott.
The owner of the two hotels, multi-millinaire Doug Manchester, made a major contribution to the statewide ballot initiative, dubbed Proposition-8, which will amend the state's Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. The amount of his significant contribution is reported somewhere between $125,000 and $1 million.
Boycott leaders are urging the traveling and vacationing public to avoid these two, high-end hotels in the San Diego area because Proposition-8 amounts to discriminatory treatment of Gays and Lesbians.
"Manchester's contribution to this anti-marriage initiative is discrimination pure and simply," said Briget Browning, president of Unite-Here Local 30, in an interview with the San Diego Union Tribune. That union represents 4,500 hotel and restaurant workers.
Manchester said in an earlier interview that he decided to donate to Proposition-8 because he was motivated by his Catholic faith to believe that marraige must be only between a man and a woman.
Manchester also said that, as he understand it, if schools teach that marriage is between a man and a woman, they could be sued for discrimination against Gays. That issue, however, has not been litigated.
He also stressed that he welcomes money from Gays and Lesbians in his hotels and restaurants.
For now, some gay civil-rights activists say they are only targeting the local Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Grand Del Mar hotels, rather than the larger Hyatt Corporation, which runs both. That's because the corporation has a good record of hiring Gays and Lesbians.
However, other gay activits disagreed, saying the boycott could easily go nationwide against all Hyatt hotels.
Manchester is one of several wealthy San Diegans who are contributing significantly to overturn the state Supreme Court's decision.
Others include wealthy Mission Valley developer Terry Caster who has reportedly contributed $125,000; and Robert Hoehn, owner of the large Hoehn Motors auto dealership, who reportedly gave $25,000.
"Our goal is to create a loss of business for those who contirbute to Proposition-8," said Fred Karger, one of the boycott's organizers.
Both sides of the battle over Proposition-8 are expected to raise huge amounts of money, for a combined total of about $30 million.
After the state's high-court ruling legalizing gay marriages, the non-partisn Field Poll found that a majority of Californians opposed the constitional ban (Proposition-8); and for the first time, actually support gay marriages.
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Contact journalist Leo E. Laurence, J.D., at leopowerhere@msn.com, or call (619) 757-4909