Mike Tidmus

Veteran activist Cleve Jones led off a group of GLBT and labor speakers addressing the media. Jones recalled the coalition formed by Harvey Milk between labor and gay and lesbian groups that “drove Coors beer out of every gay bar in North America” (all photos: mine, fair use encouraged)

This afternoon, a coalition of prominent GLBT and labor organizations kicked off the second year of a boycott against San Diego tycoon Doug Manchester’s hotels. The highly successful boycott, which is believed to have cost the hotelier an estimated $7 million dollars in business, was launched one year ago today following the hotel magnet’s contribution of $125,000 in seed money to bankroll Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that eliminated the right of same sex couples to marry in California last November. 

Fred Karger, Founder of Californians Against Hate, who kicked off the boycott on the same spot one year ago, observed that, due to the success of the boycott, Manchester’s is probably the “most famous contribution in American history.” It could ultimately be among the most expensive.

According to the Courage Campaign: “Among the groups that have honored the boycott by moving events out of the Manchester Hyatt are the American Association of Law Schools, the San Diego County Pension Fund, the San Diego Association of Realtors, California Nurses Association and the International Foundation of Employee Benefits.”

The Manchester Hyatt Boycott is endorsed by the Courage Campaign, San Diego Labor Council, California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, Equality California, Equality Illinois and San Diego Pride.

San Diego City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramizez noted that the GLBT community has long supported organized labor and vice versa and would continue to do so in the future

Fred Karger, Founder of Californians Against Hate, emphasized that the second year of the boycott would be global with a virtual barricade around the Manchester properties

The Courage Campaign’s Rick Jacobs, called on Governor Schwarzenegger to remove Doug Manchester from the California Travel & Tourism Commission

Brigette Browning, President of UNITE HERE Local 30, thanked the GLBT community for its support and pledged labor’s continued support in the future