Gay marriage backers threaten boycotts of pro-Prop. 8 restaurants

Some opponents of Prop. 8 are threatening to boycott the businesses of people who donated money to the ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California.

It was unclear how widespread the threats were, but an latimes.com database listing contributors to both sides of Proposition 8 saw a jump in traffic Wednesday.

El Coyote, the well-known Mexican restaurant on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, received calls threatening a boycott after it was reported that someone associated with the eatery contributed $100 to "Yes on 8."

Bob Montoya, a manager at El Coyote, said customers have called and threatened to boycott the restaurant, but it does not appear to have affected business. Montoya said he thought a boycott, if one was called, was misguided, as the restaurant has a number of gay employees and has always been gay friendly.

"I"m gay and I work here, and I've been here for 31 years," Montoya told The Times. "It's gay friendly. People have been coming here for many years, gay and straight, families and everybody."

Word of the boycott has spread around websites and Facebook. "We should put our money where our mouth AND support is AND NOT AT EL COYOTE," says a posting on one activist's website.

The Times also received a letter threatening a boycott of an El Pollo Loco whose owner apparently contributed to the Prop. 8 campaign.

Sonja Eddings Brown of ProtectMarriage.com said the boycott threats have extended beyond eateries.

“We have received calls today from our members in Greater Los Angeles and other parts of the state indicating that today their businesses are being hurt because they contributed money,” she said. “People who contributed have been receiving calls from people dropping their business with them.”

Eater L.A. has a spirited debate about whether it's right to boycott El Coyote.

A similar dispute is roiling the California Musical Theatre in Sacramento.

--Alexandra Zavis, Gale Holland and Shelby Grad

Comments

[Paul]

Boycott Utah.

The vast majority of funding for the hateful Prop 8 came from Mormons, at the direction of the president of the Mormon Church, based in Utah. Nearly two-thirds of Utah residents are Mormons. One of the biggest businesses in Utah is tourism. And a large number of tourists to Utah come from California.

The funders of Prop 8 thought it was a way for them to express their prejudices at no cost to themselves. Let's show them that there is actually a cost.

Don't spend your travel and tourism dollars in Utah. And that includes Sundance and other festivals.

Boycott Utah!

[Mark]

"Traditional" Capitalism allows anyone and everyone to spend their money where and how they want to. For any business, on either side of this issue, to really expect their foes to continue to shop at their establishments really amazes me. Absolutely no one serves up a Taco that would make me cross town and eat at an establishment that went to the trouble of writing a check, putting it in the mail and having to really think about what they were donating to.
"Traditional" is Traditional....YOU stop whining.

[Steve]

Publishing the names of businesses to be boycotted by the gay community is helpful for those not so disposed to be discriminatory. Such businesses will receive my recommendation and preferential treatment.

[RickInLA]

The gay community owes it to those who supported us to patronize their businesses. Also we MUST stick to our guns and boycott ANY business that contributed to the pro side of Prop 8. If the owners of the pro-Prop 8 businesses don't believe we should be equal under the law then their business should not receive our financial support. Whatever we do we must NEVER give up. We can't let this issue "die on the vine". Let's unite and take this home to those who have tried to make second class citizens of all of us! BOYCOTT, BOYCOTT!!!!

[Danielle]

These protests are a waste of time. Proposition 8 already passed, so respect the law. If you don't like the laws, work with your assemblypeople to change them. Protesting should have been done before November 4. Doing it now only makes more people oppose gay marriage.

[the rationalist]

I don't understand the connection between boycotting an establishment and censorship. The owners of El Coyote have the right to contribute to whatever they want, and the gay community has the right to boycott them. That's seizing on the power of consumerism and is, as has been noted, a time-honored approach to organizing.

[Mark]

Dustin, firing or not hiring someone because of ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. is way different that choosing not to spend ones $ at a restaurant, especially this restaurant which has been supported by the gay population for years.
This is not hypocrisy.

[RND]

Considering that gay people in general have much more disposable income, especially during these economically weak times, I would say the businesses (in particular restaurants and service industries) who supported Prop 8 should be very concerned about a boycott.

Funny thing is I don't think many of these people thought their name/business was going to be published for the public to see that they supported Prop 8.

I for one, as a gay man, will be exercising one of the rights that I have left not to do any business with anyone who supported this initiative.

[Andrew B.]

Please publish the list of boycotted companies so that we can make an extra effort to do business with them!

[Jason]

We do not have equal rights. Even the California civil union law only applies to state benefits. Over 1,100 Federal benefits (including immigration rights for same-sex partners of US citizens) are unavailable to us and we are invisible thanks to DOMA. I have been forced to live abroad for the past 3 years because my partner cannot come to the US. Some of you tell me we are 'equal'? How would you like to have to leave your country because you cannot bring your partner with whom you have a state-sanctioned civil union. Also, we are trying to get the fundamental right of civil marriage, not religious marriage. Read a good Supreme Court decision, Loving v. Virginia. Opponents of same-sex marriage remind me a lot of the opponents of interracial marriage. If the U.S. historically relied on the majority vote (like this Prop 8 nonsense), Obama's parents could not have been married, slavery would have lasted much longer, and so on. Also, the majority of Americans probably would have like to have voted the Catholics out of the country at one point, as well as the Mormons. Enough already. Gays are not telling you how to live your life, and nothing will change with marriage equality. This is a HUGE waste of time and money. Gay people are not going away and we will have marriage rights. Mormons/Evangelicals/Opponents of gay marriage: put your time and money to something that is going to HELP people, not harm them. In the meantime, I won’t give a penny to anyone who supported Prop 8.

[Mar]

It seems to me that everyone who is freaking out about the boycotts has no idea what its like to have their rights taken away. Its not being childish or immature, its making every effort to make a difference for their lives. Anyone who thinks otherwise is being childish and immature. If this was happening to any other group of people, they would be doing the same thing. I just don't understand how people can expect a different group of people to sit back and just let their rights be taken away. think about it as if it were you. i know i would be trying to do the same thing...

[RickInLA]

The gay community must unite on this issue and BOYCOTT any business that helped to make us second-class citizens. As the Governor of the state has said..." this will not hold up and will eventually be overturned". Until that moment in time we must not financially support those who defame us. Additionally, we need to take this fight to the churches and attempt to have their tax-exempt status revoked. If the church refuses to honor separation of church and state then they can pay taxes like everyone else. This antiquated system is long overdue for change and we can be the catalyst for it to happen. Foremost, we must NEVER, NEVER let this issue "die on the vine". We must fight until this travesty has been corrected. BOYCOTT!!! BOYCOTT!!!!

[Frank]

"Just another example of the homosexual hipocrasy."

Oh, sure, like people in favor of Prop 8 would have taken more than 60 seconds to decide to boycott a business that opposed Prop 8 if it had lost!

Talk about "hipocrasy"!

[Charles Medlin]

If the gay and lesbian community want to boycott all businesses that gave to Prop. 8 - great. That means that they will only go into stores that are owned by gays and lesbians, further segregating themselves. I thought the goal was to further integrate themselves into society.

How stukpid are they?????

[beviemay]

Hey everyone, I am here in Minnesota. I have some questions. what exactly are gays discriminated against? What does Prop 8 prevent you from having? Can't you still be joined in a civil ceremony? Does the state of California recognize gay unions? Can you get a job and get health benefits through that job if your gay? Are you denied housing? Is it a legal problem as far as being the beneficiary on a insurance contract? Are your unions recognized in other health issues? If marriage is a religious ceremony? Are you angry because you can't have a ceremony in a church? Would you allow some churches to not do gay union ceemonies because of their beliefs? We don't get this information here in Minnesota, so to me it doesn't make sense if your unions are recognized and you have all the rights and legal backing, that you would want the word marriage attached to your life. I don't want to be criticized by grammar or spelling errors but would you please give some understanding here? Thanks much, you betcha! Bev in Minnesota

[Toni]

Hypocrisy? It is more like self preservation. Clearly the owner is frustrated at her inability to discriminate against gays as a business owner so she is finding another outlet. I feel bad for the gay employees of El Coyote. How humiliating for them to have to go to work each day for a person they know feels they shouldn't have equal protection under the law. I know I certainly look at people differently now. She has a right to contribute however she likes but her disconnect with regards to her employees show a lack of compassion and downright discrimination. Marriage forms a kinship. It is more than a religious thing. For many gays and lesbians their partners are their families and that has just legally been dissolved. It is not hypocritical to not patronize entities that do not believe you are equal under the law. How dare you use that word.

[RH Jackson]

Isn't Overstock.com a Mormon business?

[EJ]

I somewhat agree with JB. Marriage is a religious institution and because there is supposedly a separation of church and state, the state has no business trying to make laws governing who can and cannot get married. In fact, marriage should not be something a state recognize, except for religious rights preservation. What I don't understand is how any Christian church or church members can support gay marriage. An even bigger mystery to me is how certain churches can officiate gay weddings. The Bible clearly condemns homosexuality as a unnatural act and a sin and I don't see how any church can reconcile the words of the Bible to support gay marriage. There are plenty of people who voted for Prop 8 simply on religious grounds. It's not necessarily because they are anti-gay or homophobes. One can support gay rights without supporting gay marriage. Gay rights isn't a religious concept, but marriage is. I don't support gay marriage anymore than I support baptism for non-christians. Does that make me anti-nonchristian?

[Fred Berkman]

Lets make it easy. Please post the names of all businesses that contributed to 8 so that we can help gays boycott. The message , Who cares! Stay away. Yeah big dent in the business. Go pout somewhere else. You can't push disgusting, deviant behaivor into the main stream.

Please quit insulting African Americans. This is not a civil rights issue. It is a perversion issue. Wake up. Get help. No decent person wants to hear about that type of disgusting behaivor. Two men having sexual relations? Are you kidding me? Can you even argue for that with a straight face. Yeah I want to marry my horse. No really I love him. It's my civil right. Please this issue is insane. GET HELP.

[JOE MARTIN]

I am astonished at the sheer number of confused and illogical people out there. Let's begin again..." Marriage in essense is a heterosexual term between a man and a woman, yes it does belong to heterosexuals because this is the very definition of the bond between a man and a woman. Let's look at one of the primary sources, In the scriptures (i.e The Bible) God has joined man and woman as he created them, clearly the primary source for the institution of marriage. Homosexuals should use other terms to describe their partnerships or unions. But You cannot revise or change the essense or definition of the institution of Marriage, call it whatever you like but YOU CAN NOT CALL IT MARRIAGE. It would be equivalent to homosexuals wanting to be heterosexuals?!?! It seems that you want to legitimize yourselves or make yourselves normal or appear hetersexual. You cannot revise or take a TERM SUCH AS MARRIAGE AND STUFF IT WITH YOUR UNDERSTANDING WHEN IT HAS CLEARLY BEEN DEFINED FOR CENTURIES!?!? Why would Homosexuals want to do that?

[Tony]

There is absolutely no correlation between a person of color and a homosexual. Blacks, Latinos, Asians, East Indians, those from indigenous tribes, etc., who suffered extreme biases simply because of the color of their skin, cannot be compared in any way to people with deviant sexual behaviors like pedophilia, bestiality, polygamy and homosexuality. This is why those in the African American and Latino communities voted overwhelmingly in favor of Prop. 8. They know that sexual deviance is not the same as racial discrimination.

Can you look at someone and immediately tell if that person is a pedophile or a polygamist? Of course not.

Should we allow people to marry a 4-year-old? Should we permit marriage between a man and his donkey? How about a woman marrying 6 husbands? Naturally we wouldn’t allow these marriages. So why permit homosexuals to marry? Once we allow one group of sexual deviants to marry by calling their deviance a “civil right,” what’s to stop the person who says they were born a pedophile to marry a tween? Aren’t pedophiles entitled of their civil rights, too?

Some might call this argument the “slippery slope logical fallacy.” But it’s not a fallacy if it’s true—we’re already seeing pedophiles speaking out for their “civil rights.” The majority of Californians obviously understand the difference between sexual deviance and racial discrimination, which is why Prop. 8 passed and why any boycotts will fail.

[Robert]

Dustin's comment that a boycott of businesses supporting proposition 8 is unrelated to how well they conduct their business is a red herring to cover for those who have openly expressed their homophobic beliefs by voting for this ridiculous "amendment." Proposition 8 subverts constitutional principles by withdrawing fundamental rights from a class of individuals that the Supreme Court has already determined is entitled to equal protection under the laws of California. If this proposition is upheld, it means that a 50% + 1 majority of voters can decide to withdraw any of our fundamental rights under the Constitution. What's next, a proposition that says only those of the same race can marry, only those of the same religion can marry, only those of the same nationality can marry? Undoubtedly, the same folks who supported proposition 8 could and would come up with another red herring to justify their mean spirited degradation of anyone that is entitled to equal protection under the California Constitution. That's why this proposition is so dangerous and why I believe the California Supreme Court will overturn it.

[Daniel]

In America we are all allowed a freedom to believe what we want. Along with that freedom to believe comes a freedom not to believe. I am tired of those groups who force their morality and beliefs on those who do not share thier points of view. We have a seperation of church and state and Prop 8 violates that seperation.

[MerryJoe]

The best boycott people could start in the U.S. is a boycott against organized religions, religion being the single most destructive, divisive, harmful, negativity-spewing institution in society today.

[Scott]

"This is how the free market works on a very fundamental level. From people refusing to shop at Wal-Mart for ethical reasons to the US Government enacting trade embargos against other countries."

Ha ha. You used trade embargoes as an example of how the "free market" works.

Giggle giggle. That's funny.