San Diego Hotel
Owner in Hot Water With Gays, Unions

San Diego's glamorous Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel has seen better days. The hotel, owned by local magnate Douglas Manchester, is being boycotted for the second time in six months.

The anti-Proposition 8 group Californians Against Hate launched the first boycott (which is still in effect) against Manchester's properties in July, when news of his $124,000 donation to the antigay Yes on 8 ballot initiative became public. Now a new, separate boycott is looming.

Manchester has again caught the ire of gays for his donation (this time an LGBT group affiliated with labor issues); local unions and Hyatt employees, for what they claim are unfair labor practices at his hotel; and 300 members of the National Communication Association -- an association of collegiate speakers -- who object to their national convention being held at the contentious Hyatt.

The second boycott will be announced officially Friday at 10 a.m. at a press conference in front of the hotel. Speakers will include San Diego city councilman Todd Gloria, local gay rights advocate Nicole Murray Ramirez, Carlos Marquez of the organization Pride at work, Hyatt housekeeping supervisor Lorena Gonzalez, and members of the NCA.

In a press release it was noted that the boycott is intended to highlight the deep connections between labor struggles and the gay rights movement.

After hearing of the boycott by gays and union leaders, some NCA members asked their group to relocate their meeting from the Hyatt, but NCA refused. In response, members supportive of the boycott organized an "UNconvention" at alternative sites in San Diego.

"Since Prop. 8 passed it's become clear that we have to stand up to those who would criminalize our relationships," says Dana Cloud, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and an NCA member participating in the boycott. "I'm supporting the boycott because in our country we're forced to feel like second-class citizens. I'm also part of this because of the participation of the unions. The solidarity between the labor movement and the gay rights groups is unprecedented... It demonstrates that working people need the benefits and rights that marriage allows." (Neal Broverman, The Advocate)