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

[flip wilson]

Apple and Google donated money against Prop 8. If you supported Prop 8 then don't buy Apple products and don't use Google for anything! Payback! Also, as an employer I now would never consider hiring a gay person again. I don't want anything to do with these whiners and crybabies, who would want to pay someone like that to work for them?

[jason]

zoe, the "if you don't like it, move" attitude is really lame. i could say the same to you. if you don't like the will of the people, move to connecticut.

[MickeyC]

Elton John But it's OK for you to force your religious beliefs on other religions, huh? All the churches that married same sex couples are now legally prohibited from the free practice of their religion. I guess the haters only see religion that supports their degenerate agenda.

[William david]

How about a constitutional ban on DIVORCE11111111111111 iT is a sin according to your cherrypicked bible.

[Mowry]

People have the right to decide where to spend their money. For example, I refuse to buy gasoline at Exxon/Mobile stations as they have spent millions of dollars funding institutes whose sole purpose is to deny that man-made climate change is occurring. I find that reprehensible, so I buy gas at other chains. If you don't believe in global warming, then you have the right to criticize me for it, or always choose to buy gas from Exxon/Mobile. It's freedom.

To the extent that this boycott publicizes the names of people who make donations to various campaigns, I support that. Voters are consumers, and I encourage both sides to put their money where they can feel good about it.

[YesOn8]

All this talk about rights and discrimination and Nazis is ludicrous. Homosexuals have all the same rights as every other American citizen.

And the comparison with Black Americans is offensive.
Homosexuals are not denied the vote and weren't brought here as slaves.

Indeed they have special legal protections under employment and property law not available to everyone.

Pity the No On 8 crowd can't be honest and admit it's not about their rights, it's about redefining marriage to accommodate homosexuals.

If they really cared about equality they would campaign for legalizing polygamy too.

[Molly]

Gay marriage/commitment has been around as long as traditional marriage/commitment - you only have to be a history buff to know this. The fact that religion wants to rewrite history and brainwash its followers should not be our problem. But, now it seems to be. With a little education on the subject one would find out that even our own native Americans accepted same sex relationships.

I digress, I have come to know the faces and hear the incomplete POV's from the "Yes on 8" crowd. I have been chastised and called a plethora of nasty things as they drive by (never to my face)... So, as I read through the comments and reflect back on my experiences - I do not see any immature (5 year old) behavior going on from the "No" folks. In fact, I see a polite and civil uprising against an unfair proposition that gained strength through dishonesty and lies.

[tony]

I don't understand if it was put to a vote why are still hung up on this the people have spoken. In onother article in the LATIMES it was stated that the people who vote for prop8 are the same people that voted for obama/minority/democrates . Dont liberals out number Conservative in california. Look boycott who ever you want its youre choice I will still go and spend my money where ever i want gay owned or not

[Nate C]

The irony of this is awesome. I think it was only 2 weeks ago when the news wsa reporting this furor about a letter that the Yes on 8 group sent to some business who donated $100,000 to No on 8 - threatening to releaes the business' name or something. Al the No on 8 crew was in an uproar because of how un-American it was to attack a business because of a political donation.

...I guess the shoe doesn't really fit on the other foot...

[Peter. S]

Getting married is not a civil right, it is a privilage. Applying for any kind of license is a privilage. A driver license is an excellent example and probably more black and white. Is giving a 16 year old a license to drive a civil right at the age of 16? I can think of no one who believes that. Apply for a marriage license is in the same category.

Civil Rights was a term coined by the black community and they see civil rights as being rooted in Biblical understanding. Hence the reason they voted to define marriage as man and woman.

Churches can support social causes, but not political candidates. So you cannot go after the churches for supporting 8.

In the end we all know that the courts will not allow Prop 8 to stand. In the meantime the tantrum in the streets is doing more to set the gay agenda back than anything else could. The gay community will pay a price far dearer than the right to marry if they allow their lunatic fringe to continue its tantrum. How sad.

[Matthew]

"The beauty of America is the people vote and the people decide."

Actually, no, the beauty of america is the constitution which should not be changed in any signficant way by a 52% majority of popular vote. The constitution is there for a reason--it's not a popularity contest.

[Guy in SF]

Posted by: Elton John | November 12, 2008 at 08:39 AM
“You gays need to get over it already. Stop trying to change the religious intitution of marriage, trying to impose your beliefs on religions. You already have the same rights.”

Now the real truth about Proposition 8 was to write the religious beliefs of some religions into our secular Constitution. There are churches that believe in equal marriage for same-sex couples. What happened to their protected right to freedom of religion under the U.S. Constitution?

[Jess]

Quit wasting taxpayers time and money. Nov 4th came and went. The measure passed. Why are homosexuals above the law?

[xxxray]

To PR: Send all the business that you want to Yes on 8 supporters. Just be aware that the people you are hurting by supporting the "Yessers" could very well be your own current or future gay children...

[Dan W.]

Boycotts are a legitimate way of expressing one's opinion.

So are rewarding businesses that "do the right thing" as we see it. I would like to know who the business owners who donated to No on 8 so I can send them more business.

If a business has more than enough profit that they can give money to a proposition means to enshrine discrimination against me into the constitution, then they clearly don't need my business to prosper.

I also wouldn't patronize a business that supports discrimination against anyone on race, gender or religious affiliation either.

These businesses CHOSE to locate in and market to the gay community. If they gave money to bigots to discriminate, that's just bad business, not to mention immoral.

It's about time bigots were held accountable. People have freedom of speech but they aren't entitled to the dollars of the people they wish to discriminate against.

[Eliezer]

So... If 10 employees of a company donated to No on 8 and the owner donated to Yes on 8, would you boycott the company and possibly put alll those people out of a job?

[RickInLA]

A couple of statements I would like to pass on to the so called "Christians" who so vehemently supported Prop 8. I say "Christian" but that is a misnomer as Christ never said anything about condemning gay persons; that was the work of Paul (a man who never married and hung around men all his adult life). Anyway, that is a whole different argument and post. What I want to pass on are two statements made by the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) about condemning things (or people) you don't understand: "What we call monsters are not so to God, who sees in the immensity of his work the infinity of forms that he has comprised in it..." and he also added: "We call contrary to nature what happens contrary to custom; nothing is anything but according to nature, whatever it may be. Let this universal and natural reason drive out the error and astonishment that novelty brings us". So to the "Christians" you need to understand that we are as human as you and deserve the same rights neither less nor more. And, rest assured, in this matter we will prevail.

[xxxray]

Beviemay: Glad to hear you really want to learn. Go to this website: http://gaylife.about.com/od/samesexmarriage/f/civilmarriage.htm

It's a great place to start your education on the differences of civil union, marriage, etc.

[MsAnthrope]

For gay and lesbian readers:

I am in favor of Prop 8, and my stance has nothing to do with hating gays. I am sure there are some supporters who hate gays (and I don't speak for them), but the majority of us have gays/lesbians in our lives that we love, who are our friends, relatives, or co-workers. I must say I resent being accused of being anti-gay and bigoted. It reflects on the name-callers more than the accused, and nobody with a brain is fooled.

Those of you hurling disparaging remarks at Prop 8 supporters are out-of-touch with reality, and speaking from the position of hurt and anger. In my opinion, if the judges had respected the wishes of the people to keep the term marriage as exclusively for a man and woman uniting, we would have a far smaller problem right now. Gay and lesbian couples who want to commit should have all rights that married straight couples have. But marriage the term is off-limits. The Constitution has been amended because marriage is a traditional union that the people don't want broadened. We aren't ready, and I can't say if we ever will be. I am open-minded enough to consider the possibility that things may change someday. If you want a different outcome in the future, please be sure that you have changed people's minds first. I believe the hurt and anger is because so many misjudged the minds of the voters. (Likely because we have been open to giving gay/lesbian individuals and couples protection, and we are against discrimination based on sexual orientation.)

We still love you, please don't misunderstand.

[Dan W.]

Homosexuality is not a choice nor is it perverse to those with that innate orientation.

There is not justification for anti-gay bigotry, no matter how some people take bible quotes out of their historical and literary context and use them to justify their immoral and un-Christian hatred.

[xxxray]

This is all about how the government sees your partnership. If the word "marriage" or "married" are religious terms, then the question on many, many government forms should be eradicated and replaced with the really more important term "civil union" or something similar. The term married shouldn't mean anything in our government.

The name doesn't matter to me, but the equal rights and responsibilities do.

[C Girl]

I am an avid NO ON 8 supporter and I completely disagree with Marjorie's personal stance on the issue. What I would like everyone to remember is that the people who will really be suffering froma boycott are the waitresses, waiters, bartenders, busboys, and cooks, many of whom are gay and lesbian. They are the ones who will feel the boycott affect their wallets.
I think Marjorie should relieve herself of her El Coyote duties and no longer be associated with the establishment and let the hard-working El Coyote employees get back to business as ussual.

[Dan W.]

"That means that they will only go into stores that are owned by gays and lesbians, further segregating themselves."

----------------------

Not in the slightest. One of the exciting things about the 12,000 marchers in Silver Lake last Saturday was the number of straight demonstrators. There are many straights who see this as a civil rights issue and who support is. The demonstrations last night in Santa Monica was filled with mostly straight people.

Also, there are people indifferent to us who didn't give money to Yes on 8.

The only people who will suffer by this boycott are people who take money from gay customers/clients and then use the profits to fund politicians and propositions intended to inflict bigotry back on those gay customers.

[cbk16]

Could someone post all the Pro gay marriage businesses that I can boycott? Since the majority of the most liberal state in the union voted for traditional marriage, this boycott business will hurt the pro gay crowed a lot more.

[Eliezer]

Some interesting things I've noticed:

Until a few years ago, no civilization in human history (including those that embraced homosexuality) had accepted the concept of gay marraige, and when a majority of Californians vote to keep it that way, they're called homphobic bigots.

The No on 8 backers want government out of their private lives, yet it is the government(the Supreme Court) who legalized same-sex marraige, and it is the government that they are begging to overturn the will of the people.

Why would gays need to redefine marraige when they already have all the same rights as married couples?