Boycotts Starting To Have an Effect
In the news, the artistic director of the California Musical Theatre, Scott Eckern, resigned today after gay-rights group threatened a boycott of the theatre over his support of Proposition 8.
Also on the boycott list, El Coyote restaurant and the El Pollo Loco chain. El Coyote's response? "[We're] gay friendly. People have been coming here for many years, gay and straight, families and everybody." Maybe the owner should have thought about that before giving money to support Proposition 8. Her personal response was to invite people to come eat at her restaurant today to hear her side of the story (which so far seems to be "I'm Mormon").
There are also murmurs of boycotting the state of Utah, including the Sundance Film Festival, though I'm not sure that's actually an appropriate target since they can't control the Mormon church. Not that it matters to me, personally, since I'm extremely unlikely to visit Utah in the next decade anyway.
As I hear about other boycotts I'll pass them along. I'm not under the impression that these boycotts will alter what happened on November 4, but if we roll over and accept what the pro-8 people did to us, then they won't think twice about doing it again elsewhere, and they won't think twice about again donating in 2010 when the repeal is on the ballot. Most of these people honestly didn't think they were behaving in a hateful or bigoted way, and hitting them in the wallet is the best way to inform them that they offended us and make them think through their actions in the future. And it seems to work. Eckern has said he will be making a $1,000 apology donation to the Human Rights Campaign.
Update: crboltz found a list of the El Pollo Loco locations owned by a major Yes-on-8 contributors, to allow those choosing to take their business to people who regard the GLBT community as equals to do so without affecting the innocent franchise owners. He also noticed that every Outback Steakhouse location in California is owned by a major yes-on-8 contributor.
Update 2: The L.A. Times blog L.A. Now has more information on the El Coyote "apology" which seems to be the restaurant distancing itself from the one owner who works there every day.
Also on the boycott list, El Coyote restaurant and the El Pollo Loco chain. El Coyote's response? "[We're] gay friendly. People have been coming here for many years, gay and straight, families and everybody." Maybe the owner should have thought about that before giving money to support Proposition 8. Her personal response was to invite people to come eat at her restaurant today to hear her side of the story (which so far seems to be "I'm Mormon").
There are also murmurs of boycotting the state of Utah, including the Sundance Film Festival, though I'm not sure that's actually an appropriate target since they can't control the Mormon church. Not that it matters to me, personally, since I'm extremely unlikely to visit Utah in the next decade anyway.
As I hear about other boycotts I'll pass them along. I'm not under the impression that these boycotts will alter what happened on November 4, but if we roll over and accept what the pro-8 people did to us, then they won't think twice about doing it again elsewhere, and they won't think twice about again donating in 2010 when the repeal is on the ballot. Most of these people honestly didn't think they were behaving in a hateful or bigoted way, and hitting them in the wallet is the best way to inform them that they offended us and make them think through their actions in the future. And it seems to work. Eckern has said he will be making a $1,000 apology donation to the Human Rights Campaign.
Update: crboltz found a list of the El Pollo Loco locations owned by a major Yes-on-8 contributors, to allow those choosing to take their business to people who regard the GLBT community as equals to do so without affecting the innocent franchise owners. He also noticed that every Outback Steakhouse location in California is owned by a major yes-on-8 contributor.
Update 2: The L.A. Times blog L.A. Now has more information on the El Coyote "apology" which seems to be the restaurant distancing itself from the one owner who works there every day.