May 9, 2009

Fred Karger Nails Doug Manchester’s Plan of Attack: “Divide and Conquer”

Rex Wockner took this pic of
the word BOYCOTT projected
in light against the Manches-
ter Grand Hyatt hotel during
a pro-marriage equality rally
in San Diego this spring.
Click for the original story.

The good news is that Doug Manchester, the hotelier whose $125,000 donation against equal rights prompted a boycott of his properties, is starting to understand a wee bit of the indescribable pain he helped inflict on gay and lesbian Californians, to the point that he’s willing to spend money to try to lure us back into his hotels.

The bad news is that not all LGBTs recognize this lame gesture for what it is — a buy-off designed to pit gay against gay — which Fred Karger so rightly terms a “surprise attack” of “divide and conquer.”

Last August, I wrote: “Doug Manchester [admits] that the boycott of his San Diego hotels has indeed impacted business. …

“Still, Doug the Clueless says he’s ’saddened by all the divisive nature of the movement.’ Well, who made it ‘divisive,’ Dougie? You could have just shut up, sit back, and left us alone, but noooooooo, you had to stick your nose (and your money) into an issue that never had any effect on you, your family, or your hotels. Now you’re involved, Dougie, and you (and your employees, and your vendors, and everybody else who depends on you to make a living) have no one to blame but yourself.”

So, what brings Doug Manchester and his $125,000 Proposition 8 donation back in the news today? Dougie himself, in a sad, desperate attempt to “woo” us gay folks back into giving him our hard-earned money (for which there is no guarantee he won’t turn around and use against us again).

The San Diego Trib’s Michael Stetz has the details — and delivers them in snappy style:

Boycotted hotelier woos gays

Is “Papa Doug” about to scream uncle?

I have to wonder, because Doug Manchester — who likes to be called by that goofy “Papa” nickname — is about to throw a serious chunk of change at gay and lesbian causes.

My bet is that it’s not a super-early Christmas present, but an attempt to derail that pesky boycott targeting his three hotels, including the Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego.

Manchester, a devout Catholic, gave $125,000 to get Proposition 8 on the ballot last year. He wasn’t against gays and lesbians, he said, just the marrying part.

Gays and lesbians decided they weren’t against the Hyatt, considered a gay-friendly company, just the Manchester part.

In July, the boycott began.

Manchester brushed it off at first, but he seems to feel otherwise now:

His plan — which his people warned this newspaper against publishing, even after a Hyatt representative discussed it — is to give $25,000 to a national organization that promotes civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Manchester also is considering offering $100,000 in hotel credit to local gay and lesbian organizations so they can use the Grand Hyatt for events such as fundraisers.

The $125,000 total matches what he gave to Proposition 8. So it would be even-steven.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt! No, it wouldn’t be even-steven. Not even close. There’s not a thing Manchester can do to make up for the pain he and his ilk inflicted on us during the Prop 8 battle, and which continues to this day. How does he plan to “pay” for all the sleepless nights and buckets of tears even one of us endured? You can’t buy away that kind of pain, Dougie.

And what “national organization that promotes civil unions and domestic partnerships”? Whatever it is, if it doesn’t support full-fledged, bona fide, first-class marriage, it ain’t ham.

“He’s trying to clarify his views,” said Kelly Commerford, director of marketing for the Grand Hyatt, one of the largest hotels on the West Coast. “He’s not discriminatory. He’s supportive of this community. He realizes he offended people.”

He realizes he lost business. Still being “against the marriage part” is not “supportive,” nor is this transparent and insulting attempt to buy us off.

Oh, certainly, there’s such a thing as compromise, but this isn’t. You threw down the gauntlet, Doug. You took it to the extreme by actively (and successfully) funding the war to take our rights away.

What, do you think you can beat us to a bloody pulp, then “make it up” to us by buying us a new housecoat?

Manchester didn’t return my calls, but I’m sure he realizes he can’t win this battle. Particularly now, with even boycott-free hotels struggling. Occupancy in San Diego was about 66 percent in early April, down 13.2 percent from the year before.

And even though Manchester said he supports civil unions and has nothing against gays and lesbians, they’re a group you don’t want to anger. As the boycott drew more publicity and blog buzz, gays and lesbians knew to keep their travel cash — an estimated $70 billion each year — far away from a Manchester property.

So will this bit of charity make any difference with them?

“Charity”? More like the school bully beating you up, and then offering you a moldy sandwich to be his friend because you won’t play with him.

Next, Stetz quotes Californians Against Hate’s Fred Karger, who has a lot more to say below — as well as Fred’s antithesis, Howard Bragman, a gay “crisis-management master” who’s advising Manchester (just as he advised “faggot”-hurling Isaiah Washington).

“I understand what he did and why he did it,” said the image-massager. Manchester, 66, is older and religious. He’s not exactly the type that feels comfortable with same-sex marriage. That doesn’t make him a bad guy.

Well, it doesn’t make him a GOOD guy!

Hey, Howard, here’s a little gem of wisdom you’d do well to memorize: Jesus is no excuse for being a narrow-minded bigot.

And only yesterday, I was saying that lame excuses like “I was raised that way,” or “I’m [insert ethnic origin of choice here] — we’re born that way,” don’t fly, as if “the circumstances of one’s birth” — or, in Doug Manchester’s case, the choice of religion — “confer the special privilege of being an asshole.”

And another thing: My mother is more than twenty years older than Doug Manchester — and devoutly Catholic — and somehow, she managed to miss the Bigot Boat throughout her 88 years (yes, even before her youngest came out of the closet).

So don’t try that old “He’s old and religious” crap here, Howard. How stupid do you think other gay people are? Meh, don’t bother to respond; that we even need “image managers” in this society is key to the answer.

Ron deHarte, executive director of San Diego Pride, wants to hear more on Manchester’s offer before deciding whether his group would go for that hotel credit.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of hurt feelings,” deHarte said.

That’s the understatement of the year, Ron.

And don’t you do it, Ron. Not unless he comes around to supporting full marriage equality, and deal with his union troubles — else, you’re being played for a sucker, and betraying the workers who stood (and continue to stand) with us.

If Papa Doug opens the checkbook, will that close this controversy?

Not likely, I say. It’s going to take more than cash to make nice with gays, lesbians and their supporters.

Hotel rooms are too easy to come by these days.

More at the link.

Fred Karger and Brigette Browning, President of UNITE HERE Local 30, responded in separate statements:

Manchester’s Not So Surprise Attack -
Divide and Conquer

Statement by Fred Karger, founder, Californians Against Hate:

On July 18, 2008 we partnered with many LGBT individuals and organizations and Unite Here Local 30, to call for a boycott of Doug Manchester’s two San Diego hotels; the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel and the Grand del Mar Hotel. This was done to let the world know that Doug Manchester gave $125,000 to end gay marriage in California.

Over the past 10 months, the boycott has been very successful. Countless groups and individuals have canceled well over 100,000 room-nights. Over 12 large meetings and conventions have left the hotel. Many others have stopped eating and drinking at his boycotted properties. At the Manchester Grand Hyatt alone, after just 4 months they said that they had lost $2.4 million. Now they are saying that over $7 million has been lost from the boycott. It’s probably much higher.

Recently the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported that the 2,000 + attorney members of the American Association of Justice are leaving the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego and instead taking their annual 2009 convention to San Francisco.

Doug Manchester approached us last summer, just 10 days after we called the boycott, with an offer to settle. That offer did not address any labor issues on behalf of our boycott partner, Unite Here Local 30, and we rejected his offer then and we reject his offer today. He is clearly trying to buy his way out of this, and it will not work.

Two months ago Mr. Manchester hired well known gay PR agent Howard Bragman from Los Angeles to try and give him PR advice to stop the hemorrhaging of business at his hotels. Howard Bragman appears to have given Mr. Manchester bad advice. An end to such a long and emotional boycott should not be first offered in the public square. Mr. Manchester is a very successful businessman, and I am sure he has been involved in lots of negotiations. He knows that this is not the way business is done.

Messrs. Manchester and Bragman are attempting to buy their way out of the boycott and divide the LGBT community, and that will not work. Their proposal is a real slap in the face to the gay community and to all fair minded people who believe in equality and support full civil rights for all gays and lesbians. Their feeble attempt to give free hotel rooms and services to try and lure people back to the Manchester Grand Hyatt and make them cross the union picket line is a dumb idea that will fail.

If Mr. Manchester is truly serious about ending the boycott, I am sure that we along with our boycott partners would be willing to sit down with him and listen to his proposal.

Californians Against Hate has called for national boycotts of four of the largest contributors to last year’s Yes on Proposition 8 campaign. The Manchester Hotels boycott was the first. Two of the boycotts were settled within weeks of calling them when the companies approached us directly and we met and negotiated a settlement.

Only our Boycott of Manchester Hotels and the Boycott of A-1 Self Storage remain. San Diego based A-1 Self Storage owner Terry Caster and his family gave $793,000 to Prop. 8 to take away marriage from millions of Californians. Caster told the San Diego Union-Tribune one year ago that marriage equality threatens society. “Without solid marriage, you are going to have a sick society,” he said. Caster encouraged his friend Doug Manchester to give his $125,000 to the campaign, the newspaper reported.

Statement by Brigette Browning, President of UNITE HERE Local 30 in response to Doug Manchester’s ‘apology’

Today we learned that Doug Manchester, owner of the boycotted Manchester Hyatt hotel, attempted to apologize for his $125,000 contribution that qualified Proposition 8 for the ballot last year. As part of his apology, he is contributing money and donating hotel services to undisclosed LGBT groups. I have not heard directly from Mr. Manchester, but if these reports are accurate, this is not an adequate response. Our boycott is not over.

Mr. Manchester’s money helped qualify and pass Proposition 8 last November. An apology is too little, too late from Mr. Manchester who consistently spoke in favor of Proposition 8 throughout the campaign. Further, his statement did not address the lack of job security and onerous housekeeper workload at the Manchester Hyatt that motivated the union to boycott the hotel in the first place.

We are happy to engage in a conversation about what it would take to end the boycott. However, that conversation can only be had if Mr. Manchester agrees to sit down with hotel workers and the gay community and meaningfully addresses both our community’s issues. We are ready.

Damn straight. So to speak.

On a related side note, through Fred’s site, we came across Sleep With The Right People, “an alliance between two powerful groups: the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual Transgender) community and UNITE HERE (the union representing more than 450,000 hotel, restaurant, gaming, laundry and food service workers).” There’s plenty to see and read (and do) here (including info on the Manchester boycott), and it’s well worth your time to visit and pledge your support (no, they’re not asking for money).

The relationship between labor unions and the LGBT community goes back to Harvey Milk and the Coors boycott, and the unions have historically supported the LGBT community — far more, and more consistently, I am afraid, than we have supported them.

Coming from a blue-collar family (which underwent a staggering financial crisis when my father, a machine-shop foreman, was fired outright by management for refusing to cross the picket line of his workers who were striking to unionize), being pro-union and supporting union workers whenever I can is a no-brainer — it’s just the right thing to do.

And with the additional support labor has shown recently — Unite Here alone donated $100,000 against Prop 8, and the California Teachers Association kicked in a cool one million dollars, to name just two unions who stood with us, not to mention all the donations from corporations with union shops — I urge all my LGBT brothers and sisters to become more aware of our symbiotic relationship with labor unions, and to support union workers at every opportunity — even if it just means you take an extra moment to “look for the union label.”

Don’t take this support for granted. Make sure we deserve it.

And don’t give in to Doug Manchester until he deals with both his anti-gay activism and the union-hostile working environments of his hotels.

Unity, folks, unity. It’s the only way we’re all going to stand a chance of fair play in this hard, unforgiving world — and it’s the right thing to do.

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