Academic

San Diego Grand Hyatt Boycott (and Girlcott!)

By Ann Bartow

Since this is the hotel where the AALS annual meeting is being held, I thought the FLP readership would be concerned about this story.  The Grand Hyatt’s owner gave $125K to the marriage ban campaign; now gay activists are calling for a boycott.  An excerpt:

Gay rights supporters and their union allies plan to launch a boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt because its owner, Doug Manchester, contributed $125,000 to Proposition 8, an amendment to ban same-sex marriage on the November ballot.

Organizers of the campaign, which is expected to be announced at a news conference today, say they believe it is the first time that gay rights supporters have boycotted a business whose owner seeks to ban same-sex marriage.

Leaders will urge the public to avoid the downtown hotel because they say that support for Proposition 8 amounts to unfair treatment of gays and lesbians.

?Manchester’s contribution to this anti-marriage initiative is discrimination plain and simple,? said Brigette Browning, president of Unite Here Local 30, which represents 4,500 hotel and restaurant workers.

The Manchester Grand Hyatt is not unionized. …Gay rights supporters and their union allies plan to launch a boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt because its owner, Doug Manchester, contributed $125,000 to Proposition 8, an amendment to ban same-sex marriage on the November ballot.
Organizers of the campaign, which is expected to be announced at a news conference today, say they believe it is the first time that gay rights supporters have boycotted a business whose owner seeks to ban same-sex marriage.

Leaders will urge the public to avoid the downtown hotel because they say that support for Proposition 8 amounts to unfair treatment of gays and lesbians.

?Manchester’s contribution to this anti-marriage initiative is discrimination plain and simple,? said Brigette Browning, president of Unite Here Local 30, which represents 4,500 hotel and restaurant workers.

The Manchester Grand Hyatt is not unionized.

(The good news in this story, I think, is the alliance between the gay activists and the unions.  Hooray for unions.) 

-Erin Buzuvis

Full post as published by Feminist Law Professors on July 22, 2008 (boomark / email).