Protesting the State Bar at the Hyatt

The high-spirited demonstration at the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel yesterday afternoon could be heard blocks away as it echoed through the condo-lined corridors of Downtown San Diego. As mentioned back on 27 March, the California State Bar Association decided to ignore an ongoing boycott by union workers and GLBT activists and convene their annual convention at Papa Doug Manchester’s posh Market Street digs. The highly-successful boycott was launched in response to the onerous working conditions at the hotel, the lack of job security for workers and Manchester’s personal donation of $125k in seed money to California’s Proposition 8 — the ballot initiative that eliminated marriage equality in the state.

Read more at: Mike Tidmus!

Prop 8 Catholic Donor Files for Divorce

Oh the irony of it all.  Doug Manchester, owner of the Manchester Hyatt, the same guy who donated $125,000 towards the passage of Proposition 8 in California because of his firm “Catholic” beliefs that marriage is only between one man and one woman, has found himself in the middle of a rather messy divorce after 43 years of sacred marriage. Last I knew, divorce went against the religious traditions of the Catholic faith.

According to a post on San Diego City Beat:

On Oct. 9, 2008, Manchester ended 43 years, eight months and nine days of marriage to Elizabeth Manchester by moving out of their La Jolla abode. The couple spent the next several months trying to reach a quiet settlement on how best to distribute millions of dollars in cash and other assets. In July, those talks totally broke down, and Doug started playing financial hardball with Elizabeth, allegedly draining the couple’s shared accounts and stealing her mail. On Aug. 6, Elizabeth filed a petition for redress in family court. All of the information in this story comes from those petitions.

I wonder if Catholics believe in Karma?

Manchester Hyatt Feeling Crunch From Boycott

As reported earlier on GayAgenda.com, Doug Manchester, the owner of the Manchester Grand Hyatt and The Grand del Mar donated $125,000 to support Proposition 8, a California ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage.

The GLBT community immediately  started a boycott of the hotels which have been largely successful.  The American Association of Law Schools and the San Diego County pension board even decided to move events elsewhere.

Manchester sited this was not a problem. He told the Wall Street Journal, “We have received support from those that are in favor of Prop. 8, which has made up for some of what is being lost as a result of the boycott.”

It was later reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune, that his CFO wrote in an e-mail stating the hotels were losing millions because of the boycott, and that “nearly every other luxury hotel in California is actively seeking out and marketing to the gay community to get their business. . . . We should be doing the same.”

The Hyatt Corporation distanced itself from Manchester, saying it was an inclusive organization and that “Doug Manchester in no way speaks for Hyatt”.

Because of his political views, Manchester can now be sued by his investors for the lost revenues. According to on-line sources, hotel rooms normally selling for $238 a night at the Grand Hyatt are going for $95 on Priceline.

Sorry Doug, looks like homophobia isn’t paying off.

Grand Hyatt Feels Crunch from Gay Boycott

According to signonsandiego.com;

Officials at the Manchester Financial Group have argued for weeks that a boycott by gay rights and union groups hasn’t hurt business at its two San Diego hotels, the Manchester Grand Hyatt and The Grand Del Mar.

But a top company official, in an e-mail obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune, painted a different picture, saying the boycott could have dire consequences for hotel owner Doug Manchester that could cost him millions of dollars in lost business.

The boycott is in response to a $125,000 donation the owner of the hotels gave to proprosition 8, a ballot measure that would make gay marriage illegal in California.

Read the rest of the story here.

Hyatt Donates $125,000 To Ban Gay Marriage

Gay rights and union advocates have begun boycotting the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego after its owner, Doug Manchester, donated $125,000 to a ballot measure that would end same-sex marriage in California, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.