Boycott Launched Against CA Hotelier

A coalition of marriage equality advocates and a hotel workers union in California are calling for a boycott of Hyatt hotels owned by San Diego tycoon Doug Manchester after he donated $125K in support of Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that would overturn gay marriage.

The group's message Thursday was to urge residents and tourists to stay at other hotels. The boycott call comes at the height of the summer and just one week before the start of the 2008 Gay Pride festivities in San Diego, during which 200,000 attendees are expected to attend, according to festival organizers.

"San Diego is united in its outrage at the Manchester's funding of the initiative to outlaw marriage equality," said Todd Gloria, candidate for San Diego City Council. "I believe that all fair-minded San Diegans should take a stand against discrimination and boycott the Manchester Hyatt."

Brigette Browning, president of San Diego's Hotel Workers Union, also stood in support of the boycott. "We believe it is pure and simple discrimination," she told NBC 7/39. We believe equality for workers is just as important for gay and lesbians." Browning also accused Manchester of discriminating against his gay workers and discriminating against women by "forcing housekeepers to clean more rooms that housekeepers do at other Hyatt hotels."

In response to the union's support, "ex-gay" nutjob James Hartline is asking the 20,000 weekly readers of his newsletter, Conservative Christian News, to begin a tip boycott of union workers.

"Since you have decided to make your line of work a political issue in opposition to our views on homosexuality and marriage than we can no longer support giving your workers extra money," wrote Hartline, who supports the ban, in an e-mail to the president of Unite Here Local 30. "We are much bigger than you and will follow through with this stand," Hartline wrote.

Dan Rottenstreich, spokesman for Unite Here Local 30, said his organization is not worried. "If Mr. Hartline, and Manchester's other allies, seek to organize Christians against fair pay, basic decency and generosity, we wish him good luck," he said. "We will continue to educate the public about Manchester's discrimination against gays and the lack of job security for workers at the Manchester Hyatt."

You may remember Hartline for claiming that last October's fires in Southern California were due to Jeebus being mad about the passage of SB777, the anti-bullying law. Apparently, Jeebus doesn't tip sinners either.