May 15, 2009

Best Take Yet on Doug Manchester’s Backhanded Blood-Money Buy-Off

Or, as my lovely wife just snarked when she walked into the room and saw my headline: “Buy-off: ‘Gee, honey, if I buy you a dozen roses, will you forget I smacked you around last night?’“

Backstory: Fred Karger Nails Doug Manchester’s Plan of Attack: “Divide and Conquer”, May 9, 2009

The Gay & Lesbian Times has an excellent, must-read editorial on homophobic hotelier Doug Manchester and his insulting, transparent, and ultimately futile attempt to buy off gay and lesbian Californians and stop the gay-and-labor union boycott of his properties.

The piece also offers some new revelations, such as the fact that Manchester’s “new gay step-child” Howard Bragman is an even bigger tool than we imagined: Bragman married his husband last summer, yet continues to make lame excuses for Manchester’s appalling actions.

What do you call someone who degrades himself and betrays his people for money? We can’t decide on just one word — there are so many that fit. “House Dorothy” will do for now.

(Howie, we don’t care how successful you’ve been as a professional “image-massager” in the past; you can’t polish this turd no matter how hard you try — and you’ve pretty much destroyed your own credibility by coming out as the mercenary, traitorous Chicken for Colonel Sanders you are.)

We’re pleased to see that nobody (so far) is buying into Manchester’s pathetic “offer”; even the insatiable Human Rights Campaign refused Dougie’s dirty $25K. (Well done, Solmonese!)

And we’re delighted to hear that Kelly Commerford — another gay apologist for Manchester — was booed off the stage when he “announced the offer to the 350 gay and lesbian travel professionals at a Hyatt-sponsored luncheon” during the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association convention in Toronto.

Looks like Dunderhead Dougie, Backstabbing Bragman, and Capitulating Commerford are going to learn the hard way that Teh Gheyz aren’t as desperate — or downright stupid — as they wish we were.

Finally, the “seven million reasons” are just seven million more confirmations that boycotts do work:

Manchester should bridge the rift with apology

When Doug Manchester, owner of three San Diego hotels including the Manchester Grand Hyatt, gave $125,000 to help qualify Proposition 8 for the ballot, it’s unlikely he foresaw a boycott by the GLBT community. But even if he had, he likely wouldn’t have cared. In fact, when a coalition of union labor and GLBT organizations began the Boycott Manchester campaign, internal communications leaked to the public show he didn’t.

Most estimate that, as of this month, Manchester has about seven million reasons to wish he had. That’s the estimated amount the 10-month boycott has cost him so far. …

To get him out of the doghouse, Manchester hired openly gay crisis PR guy, Howard Bragman from Los Angeles. It took Bragman three months to come up with his crisis PR plan – a “settlement” to end the boycott, which he announced last Friday at the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association’s (IGLTA) annual convention in Toronto, Canada.

Bragman sent Manchester’s marketing director, Kelly Commerford, to make the pitch. Commerford – making it quite clear that he is gay – announced the offer to the 350 gay and lesbian travel professionals at a Hyatt-sponsored luncheon. He said Doug Manchester would offer $25,000 to a national organization that supports domestic partnerships and civil unions and make available $100,000 in hotel credits to GLBT organizations.

The settlement – or blood money as we see it – is laughable. In Toronto, it was boo-able, and that’s exactly what those present at the luncheon did, booing and hissing Commerford right out of the luncheon. He, along with three other Hyatt executives, never returned to the convention. …

Things aren’t going much better for Manchester back home. …

Bragman was banking on groups taking advantage of the free room and meeting credits crossing the picket lines. In turn, he hoped Manchester could claim he was actually helping local groups and thereby marginalize [Fred] Karger and his coalition.

But Karger and his coalition of community and union leaders stood firm. No local organization would cross a picket line or take money. …

And Bragman’s own rhetoric is troublesome on two points.

He dismisses Manchester’s views as understandable given Manchester’s age (66) and religion (Catholic). And he says lack of bridge building, not donations by wealthy donors such as Manchester, is to blame for Proposition 8’s passage. “That’s why we lost Prop. 8, not enough bridge building,” Bragman said in one press story. Sounds like a feeble attempt to justify working for one of Proposition 8’s biggest supporters. …

As a community, we should be proud that we do not accept blood money. We do not allow money to talk its way out of hateful actions.

As a community we should stand behind the coalition of community and labor organizations as they continue the Manchester Boycott. When Manchester is prepared to meet with union and community leaders, then the real dialogue can happen. Until then, Boycott Manchester’s hotels. …