Gay activists and union leaders commit to year two of Hyatt Boycott

At a press conference last Friday, GLBT activists and union leaders marked the one-year anniversary of the Manchester Hyatt Boycott, launched last year in response to hotel owner Doug Manchester’s $125,000 contribution to qualify Proposition 8 for the ballot.

“For over a year we have urged San Diegans, Californians and Americans to boycott the Manchester Hyatt because of Manchester’s contribution to Proposition 8 and onerous workloads for the hotel’s housekeepers,” said Cleve Jones, a national gay leader and former aid to slain San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk. “The hotel’s own people have admitted to losing over $7 million in business due to the boycott. This boycott has truly shown the power of our reenergized community and the alliance between the gay community and labor.”

Proposition 8 eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry in California. Boycott organizers also committed to continue the boycott and expand its scope.

“One of our goals for the next year will be to take the boycott to the next level – global,” said Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate. “We will ask travel planners and tour operators throughout the world not to book meetings and room nights at the Manchester properties. We will put up a virtual bright yellow caution tape around Manchester’s hotels, and ask people not to cross it.”

The boycott has drawn increasing media attention and picked up steam since it began. Early on, several groups announced that they would move or cancel events at the hotel. Recently, the American Association of Justice, a trial lawyers group moved its entire convention out of the Manchester Hyatt to San Francisco to honor the boycott. At a recent gay and lesbian travel exposition, a hotel spokesperson confirmed that the boycott has cost the hotel more than $7 million.

At the July 17 press conference, organizers unveiled more than just a new approach. They came with a new logo and visual aid – bright yellow caution tape reading “Do not cross. Do not support bigotry and discrimination.” Organizers say the caution tape is intended as a reminder for individuals throughout the country not to patronize the hotel.

“We want to send a very simple message to all those planning to travel to San Diego that the Manchester Hyatt Boycott is on and stronger than ever,” said Human Relations Commissioner, Nicole Murray-Ramirez. “The unions, hotel workers and gay community started this fight together and we intend to finish it together.”

See Gay activists and union leaders commit to year two of Hyatt Boycott

Gay and Lesbian Times

* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

Published by

Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/gay-activists…

Update on Tennessee hotel dismissal of LGBT people

Hotel Owner Denies Firing Gay People @ MSNBC - reports:

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – A hotel manager who said the owner made him fire an employee for being gay has now been fired himself.

A number of other former employees said they were let go by the owner, Tarun Surti, because they were gay, while others said they were fired because they were women.

Channel 4 News first reported last week that employee David Hill’s said he was fired from the Arte’ Hotel in Brentwood because he was gay.

After the story aired, more people came forward with employment discrimination complaints and said they’ve filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Pressure increases on Tennessee hotelier after more former … @ PageOneQ.com reports:

The battle against Tarun Surti, owner of the ARTE’ Hotel in Brentwood, Tennessee, is intensifying. More workers have come forward with discrimination complaints in the wake of two recent firings of openly gay staff members. At least two have retained legal counsel.

On January 8, WSMV-TV reported that David Hill, the hotel’s former director of human resources, had been terminated and “dared” to sue. His supervisor, assistant general manager Leonard Stoddard, told him that Surti ordered the firing specifically because he didn’t want gays in leadership roles at his establishment. Surti’s cultural background was a homophobic one, Stoddard explained to WSMV.

Mr. Hill has since filed complaints with the EEOC and Department of Labor, but has little hope, given that both Surti and his hotel are bankrupt. On finding out that Stoddard talked to the press, he too was let go via e-mail.

Tennessee hotelier fires second gay man after he talks to the press @ PageOneQ.com reported earlier:

The firings continue at a Tennessee hotel after its assistant general manager spoke out against its owner for dismissing a man for being gay.

David Hill, former director of human resources for ARTE’ Hotel in Brentwood, said that he was “dared” to sue after being told the decision by owner Tarun Surti to terminate his employment on January 8 was specifically on the basis of his sexual orientation; assistant general manager Leonard Stoddard confirmed it to the press.

“The owner, Mr. Surti, comes from a culture that is not very tolerant to the gay lifestyle,” Stoddard, who was ordered to dismiss Hill, told WSMV-TV, “and therefore he felt it necessary to have him removed from the workforce at the property.”

Stoddard, also openly gay, has since been given his walking papers, Out & About reported. “I am here in the office and shocked to hear what you had said to the media,” Surti e-mailed Stoddard. “If it is true that you told media that David was fired because he is gay, you obviously told them a lie. Such behavior is subject to immediate termination and I would like you to restrain (sic) from coming to the hotel.”