Prop. 8 boycott talk spreads to movies and more

The boycott effort against businesses whose owners backed Proposition 8 appears to be picking up steam.

Dozens of groups have sprouted up on Facebook.com urging its members to boycott businesses -- restaurants, jewelry stores, car-repair shops and more. Other activists have gone onto Yelp.com and other business rating sites, posting messages telling users which restaurants donated to the "Yes on 8" campaign.

There has also been talk of a boycott of the Cinemark movie chain, whose CEO gave money to "Yes on 8." This could have a major effect on the Sundance Film Festival, which uses the chain's theaters to show movies.

The actions have alarmed supporters of Prop. 8, which banned gay marriage in California.

"Since Proposition 8’s victory, a series of protests against churches, small businesses and individual supporters of traditional marriage have taken place in cities across the state," Ron Prentice, chairman of ProtectMarriage.com, wrote in a statement. "Tragically, some opponents of Prop. 8 who claim to cherish tolerance and civil rights are unabashedly trampling on the rights of others. Protests and boycotts have taken place against a Hispanic restaurant owner in Los Angeles, African American religious leaders in the Bay Area, and a musical theater director in Sacramento, among many others."

Robert Hoehn, vice president of Hoehn Motors in San Diego County, gave $25,000 of his own money to the Yes-on-8 campaign in February. And he called what followed “a really really ugly experience.”

Before the vote, Hoehn said, he he received “dozens and dozens and dozens of really vitriolic messages” and his Honda dealership was picketed.  Since the proposition won, he said, he has received a few messages and phone calls denouncing his support for the measure.

It started with a handful of restaurants including L.A. institution El Coyote, where one of the owners contributed money to the "Yes on 8" campaign. Gay-rights activists have threatened a boycott, but the owners say so far they have not noticed a drop in business. The restaurants targeted include chains such as El Pollo Loco, Burger King, Outback Steakhouse, Yard House and more.

There is now chatter about a "gay day off," in which activists would simply not buy anything.

--Cara Mia DiMassa, Tami Adbollah and Shelby Grad

Photo: No on Prop 8 supporters protest at L.A. restaurant El Coyote.  Lori Shepler/Los Angeles Times.

Comments

[Lamotte]

I am a prop 8 supporter, a black male, and a arm citizen. I went to the poll and cast a legal vote in favor of prop 8. Now, the gay rights movement is threatning our churches and community. We are ready for you. You bring the noise to us, noise you WILL get back in return. I especially didn't like the fact that some gay people assaulted a female senior citizen. We ARE prepared to deal with you should you decide to come in our community and threaten to vandalize our churches. This is fair warning.

[busytimmy]

So Lamotte, we are supposed to smile nicely and fade away after we are stripped of our equality in the state of California? We are sick and tired of God and the bible being used to oppress gay Americans. Don't you remember a time in the not so distant past when that happened to you? You can keep the lies taught about gay folks in your church and home, you should not use the ballot box to deny freedom to others. I suggest you remember James Baldwin and Bayard Rustin, two black gay men who fought for your civil rights. Fair warning to you!

[toni]

This has NOTHING TO DO WITH A CHURCH, BUT THE PROPONENTS OF PROP 8 CERTAINLY MADE IT THAT WAY.

How dare they use tolerance as a weapon. People should never tolerate being discriminated against. If it was a black man being discriminated against we would have RIOTS ON THE STREETS. WE WILL NEVER FORGET THE RIOTS OF RODNEY KING. No buildings have burned.

How dare you. We are ready for you too, in court. We will never stop fighting for equality under the law.

[Merdaud]

you are free to support your cause. But know that when Gay people where being sent to Concentration camps in Germany along with the Jews, it was people like you who looked the other way. YES, WE WERE SENT TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS. YES, people like you thought we wer sub-human and did not deserve to exist.

Do not try to use isolated incidents to justify you bigotry and hate. I almost have more sympathy for individuals who have never felt discrimination to be ignorant enough to cast a vote for prop 8. But as an African American, you should be ashamed.

[Zach]

"We ARE prepared to deal with you should you decide to come in our community...This is fair warning."

As a side note, this sounds like the not-so-veiled threats that MLK faced. How ironic. Sick, sad, and ironic.

[Merdaud]

you are free to support your cause. But know that when Gay people were being sent to Concentration camps in Germany along with the Jews, it was people like you who looked the other way. YES, WE WERE SENT TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS. YES, people like you thought we wer sub-human and did not deserve to exist.

Do not try to use isolated incidents to justify you bigotry and hate. I almost have more sympathy for individuals who have never felt discrimination to be ignorant enough to cast a vote for prop 8. But as an African American, you should be ashamed.

[TR]

I am black and I am ashed that black religious leaders supported prop 8 in such large numbers. After all, in an earlier time it was the Bible that was used to justify our enslaving and our second class citizenship. I am straight, but I also feel that nobody has the right to tell others what rights they should or should not have....particularly when it doesn't affect them. 50 percent of straight marriages end in divorce, so it's not like there is any moral authority there.

[Tired justice-seeker]

Okay, the both of you, take a deep breath and sit down. Really. "Fair warning" posturing, fighting words: all that will get all of us absolutely no where. Says a Northern California white lesbian who voted and organized against 8.

Really. All these Civil Rights leaders we're citing (pro and con 8) would be ashamed for us all. From Bayard to James to Martin. To Coretta, who stood with LGBT people on this fight. They showed us all an example. Let's work on following it.

[Taliesin]

Lamotte, it would sound as if you may be about to "reap as you have sown." If you practice hate and discrimination, you should not be surprised if it comes back to you. You want to force your religious beliefs on the rest of the world and you have sought to do so by altering the constitution of CA and violating the Constitution of the United States. Have you ever heard of the separation of Church and State? Have you ever heard of freedom and justice for all? The passage of Prop 8 was all about hate, bigotry and discrimination.

[bill]

i supported 8, i am boycotting business that support no on prop 8, it works both ways

[Carol]

Organizing a boycott is not a trampling of the boycottee's civil rights.

This is an issue for the courts to decide. I'd hate to see misegination (sp?) put to the vote today. I bet there are an awful lot of people who think interracial marriage is a sin. But that's not up for the people to decide. It's for the courts.

[Dew]

While I am not gay, I do support the gay communities effort to boycott businesses who's owners supported Prop 8. I do not agree with vandalizing churches or private property; however, one DOES have the right to protest and boycott whomever they see fit. So, those owners who supported Prop 8 are getting their just desserts.

[NH]

Lamotte, let's remember that boycotts and protests are NOT the same as assault. I do not recall any gay people assaulting anybody.

[Rich]

Lamotte, you think we're going away? You think we're going to sit down while you strip away our rights? Think again, buddy.

You don't have a lock on the term "civil rights" nor will we allow your hateful supporters to pigeonhole us as bigots ourselves. We have every right -- every responsibility -- to boycott hateful businesses, and to boycott hateful churches.

We will fight. We will win.

[sue]

Yes please make that list available of businesses the no on prop 8 will boycott, I will support those businesses that supportred yes on 8. I have lots of $ to spend

[norco]

Where I live churches have been vandalized. Protests continue and grow angrier. For the second time in less than 7 years, lawsuits are being prepared to overthrow the voter's desire. Citizens make up society and our citizens have not denied legal rights to gays. Civil unions and domestic partnerships are one thing, but marriage is part of our socio-cultural makeup. Intimidation, litigation, and outright bullying is what's happening. The Calif. Bar Assn. put a million dollars in the fight against 8 because they KNEW the bullies and litagators would not rest until homosexuality is taught in our schools and employers are afraid not to hire a transsexual for fear of lawsuits. The fanitic wing of the gay rights movement has taken over.

[Dew]

While I am not gay, I do support the gay communities effort to boycott businesses who's owners supported Prop 8. I do not agree with vandalizing churches or private property; however, one DOES have the right to protest and boycott whomever they see fit. So, those owners who supported Prop 8 are getting their just desserts.

[Critically Thinking]

Actually, Mr. Prentice, it's not trampling anybody's rights by protesting and chosing not to patronize organizations that contributed to the Yes on 8 campaign...that's one freedom we do still have, and we will exercise it.

[David]

The Times should talk. On every issue except for education they have been on the wrong side. Because of that, people have been boycotting the paper since 2001 and they are now down to 730,000 subscribers.

[YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS]

i'm glad to hear this. time to pull out all the stops. so proud.

[Chris]

It really makes me laugh every time I read someone comparing the struggles of blacks for equality to that of homosexuals. Last I checked blacks cannot wake up one morning and say to themselves, "hmm I am tired of being black, I think I will be Asian today". However, a gay person can do just that. They can wake up one day and decide to no longer be gay or at the very least make it so no one knows they are gay. Can a black person hide being black or change the color of their skin on a whim?

Beyond that being black is not immoral.

[frank]

lamotte is funny! The black trannys on Polk st. are scarier than lamotte. 'a gay day off'. how about 'a gay month off'. I have already started, I'm buying food from local gay friendly farmers markets

[scott]

I have been fighting against Prop 8 since day 1, and have no intention of stopping this fight. However, I think boycotting is the absolute WRONG way to go. Boycotting is a tactic that the hate-mongering supporters of Prop 8 used. It is intimidation. It is using hate and anger to fight...hate and intolerance. We need to rise above that. We ARE better than the self-righteous proponents of Prop 8.

You are free as an American to teach hate and bigotry in your church. Your church has absolutely NO place in my/your/our government!!!

[dino]

Yeah, and I think we should vote to send blacks back to Africa. How'd that feel?

I'll bet if there was a vote after the Civil War, you'd be posting your ignorance from Kenya or some place. We might even be able to win that vote now.

[Joshua Cohen]

The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to vote. However, no where does it say there would not be repercussions for exercising these rights.

Aside from thew few acts of violence and vandalism that have occurred (nothing, by the way, compared to the race riots of the 60s and 70s), no one's civil rights have been violated by boycotting individuals and organizations that supported Proposition 8.

However, it can be argued that by supporting Proposition 8, the civil rights of approximately 4 millions members of the California LGBT community have been violated and the status of nearly 20,000 families put in jeopardy.

For anyone to think that the LGBT community would simply accept this travesty is simply naive.