"Christian Charity" Quote of the Day
“I don’t want to offend anybody.”
–Catholic bigot Doug Manchester, owner of the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina, on his assurances to the gay community that he would continue to take their money as guests and clients, despite his having donated $125,000 to support the upcoming ballot initiative to repeal same-sex marriage in California.
News flash, “Christian” — we’re offended:
A $125,000 donation in support of an anti-gay marriage initiative by a San Diego hotelier has drawn the ire of gay and lesbian activists and local labor unions who are now calling for a boycott.
…
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.
Of course, large-scale boycotts are almost always futile from the perspective of the target — no one knows this better than the bigots themselves (see also here and here). But a boycott is hardly futile from the perspective of the boycotter. Money may be fungible, but the moral high ground is not. So bravo to those who will celebrate San Diego Pride elsewhere.
(On the other hand, Hyatt and Marriott are both national, indeed global, franchises — corporations with which Manchester has contracts and obligations to preserve the two brands’ respective reputations. I wonder how their corporate executives feel about knowing that one of each of their flagship properties are the target of a discrimination-inspired boycott.
Filed under: Gay Rights and Issues, Society, Religion, Culture Wars