The passage of Proposition 8 (Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry) has set off a backlash against businesses and interested parties who supported the passage, in spirit, financially, or otherwise.

Of course, this clash is nothing new. Sometime back, as I wrote here, the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego went through the same thing - picketing, calls for boycotts and a whole lot of unwanted publicity. But this time, the ripple seems to be spreading wider. A progressive activist and high profile blogger, John Aravosis, is calling for a boycott of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. And all Marriott hotels.

Apparently, some guy called Brent Andrus, who donated a lotta dough for Prop 8, runs a few hotels in Salt Lake City, including the Courtyard Marriott, Fairfield Inn Marriott, Residence Inn Marriott, and Spring Hill Suites Marriott. And Bill Marriott is a Mormon and a leader in the LDS Church in the Washington, D.C. 

But nobody seems to want to confirm if Bill Marriott, or Marriott International as an entity, had contributed to or otherwise supported Proposition 8. Bill Marriott, for his part, made it very clear that neither he nor the company had contributed. “The Bible that I love teaches me about honesty, integrity and unconditional love for all people,” Marriott said. “But beyond that, I am very careful about separating my personal faith and beliefs from how we run our business.”

But it doesn’t stop even here. A manager at El Coyote, a restaurant in Los Angeles, apparently donated $100 to an organization which was trying to the proposition passed. Now there’s calls for boycotts of the restaurant. I’m sure there must a lotta stories like this all over the place. If I find anymore, I’ll update this post.

Photo by david_shankbone via flickr (creative commons).

Posted on November 14th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Hotels, Travel News