No LGBT Organizations will accept Manchester's Blood Money. Bragman holds no weight in our community, especially after he joined Manchester's payroll.
All LGBT org's in this city have signed onto the pledge: Say No To Manchester's Money!
http://saynotomanchester.org/
The Boycott will not be bought off with hotel vouchers!

Equality California has endorsed the boycott and won't take Manchester's buy off money!

No kidding, the Hyatt's story was different from what the community and the people think??

Shocking revelation!

Of Coarse the Hyatt is going to tell you that Bragman. And Of coarse because they are paying you, you will regurgitate it.

You must think we are stupid

The workers never shared in the spoils and riches during the hotel's success, so why would they take the fall during the boycott.

Im sorry Mr Bragman, but my wife is friends with a few of the housekeepers at the Manchester Hyatt. and No, they are not happy. The working conditions are awful. The only reason why people dont quit is because they have to put food on their family's table.

The housekeepers were protesting these issue two years before the boycott and Manchester's donation to Yes on 8.

But thanks for writing the Hyatt's company line

I think it's really important that we stand with labor on this boycott. Doug Manchester's attempt to "buy us off" with credits at his hotel was just crazy! I'm so glad that the LGBT community is continuing to be a part of this boycott.

The Anniversary press conference was not a protest, people werent supposed to show up. It was the same weekend as pride.
Ask the people in the Hyatt's neighborhood about the protests. Hundreds of people are down there weekly protesting and picketing. Ask the cops who show up every time!

While it's wonderful that Howard Bragman has done much for our community and claims to be in touch with labor - I don't agree with his point.

Manchester was advised ahead of time about the ramifications that such a large donation would have on the community. He and his business have suffered the consequences. As a result from this highly successful boycott most companies large and small will think twice before making contributions to anti-gay causes. In a rough economy he made a poor business choice.

His "pledge" is insulting to say the least and will not only never restore marriage to Californian families but is nothing more than a transparent attempt to drive his own business.

For Howy to claim the we need to build bridges... is very true. Hearts and minds need to be changed but they will never change with Papa Doug. He has been very clear that he thinks there is something fundamentally wrong with our LGBT community. He has been strong in that he will never support full equality. End of story there.

Labor has been one of the longest standing institutions to support full LGBT equality and has once again shown us with the AFL-CIO's(American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) historic move to fully support our community.

Bottom line for me is that Machester is going to fall on the wrong side of politics and will go down in San Diego's history as donating to discrimination. Labor has been a strong ally and will continue to be.

Sorry Howard - thanks but no thanks. I'll stick with labor and not make bed follows with someone who can't stand the thought of me getting married someday.

-Love Warrior

Sorry, Howard. We're not buying. This boycott is only affecting one thing: Doug Manchester's pocketbook. When a businessman uses the money he generates from his business to promote injustice, we have to take action.

The $125,000 was turned down because it was a joke! He wanted to give us credits to hold our events in his hotel. I'll never set foot in that place, not ever!

We were lucky to be married last year while we had marriage in California, and we're sad every single day when our friends who are finally ready to get married are denied that right. It's unfair, and Doug Manchester helped make it happen. He hasn't made any true attempts to prove he's sorry -- why would we stop boycotting him now?

To be honest, this is the first I've heard that Doug Manchester has apologized for his donation. Like the rest of our community I hold a negative opinion of Mr. Manachester and have supported the boycotts of his properties because of his actions. It doesn't seem to me that Mr. Manchester is doing a very good job using his PR money to convince me that he doesn't continue to hold views that would relagate me to second class citizenship. Perhaps if he invested some of his time and considerable resources to show the community he was truly repentant for his ill-conceived donation perhaps he would build a bridge to our community that we would be willing to cross. Throwing some money at us doesn't really demonstrate that he truly regrets the action he took to years ago to support bigotry in our country.

We are proud of our partnerships with people and organizations that support full equality regardless of gender, gender identity,or sexual orientation. We proudly endorsed EFCA and stand by our partnerships with Labor. We support the boycott.

Didnt he just donate 32,000 dollars to Meg Whitman for Gov.
Whitman is violently anti Gay and also supoprted Yes on Prop 8. If Manchester was sorry he wouldnt be supporting right wing anti lgbt candidates for Governor!

Mr. Bragman you are speaking for Doug Manchester's money not for yourself. The LGBT community supports the housekeepers and will never be bought off by Manchester. And we will not be convinced that bad is good by a hired- gun PR flack. I do hope Local 30 will demand equal time from GLT for an honest guest commentary, and in that piece we will get the truth, not an insult to the readers intelligence like this "guest commentary."

nice try. wonder how much $ per word you got paid to write this?

also- in the same light, is papa doug going to pay a housekeeper millions of dollars to talk about how great it is to clean twice the rooms as what's considered safe in the hotel industry?

You are dismissing out of hand the union workers who stood by us; it is our turn to stand by them, unequivocally. We know who our real friends are -- and we know about building coalitions: labor has stood by us since the Coors boycott. What's more, unions are the backbone of this nation, and regardless of our relationship with them, _this_ lesbian says: UNION YES.

As for Manchester, he can never undo the damage he has done, and we're not stupid enough to fall for his blood-money offer.

I don't buy your reasons for selling out your fellow LGBTs either, Mr. Bragman. Not for a New York minute.

You -- and Manchester -- must really think the rest of us are a bunch of idiots.

Boycott the Manchester Hyatt!!!!

Manchester wasn't sorry he helped eradicate our rights, he was sorry it garnered so much bad publicity and a boycott for him. His blood money is worthless and your attempt to make us out to be the victimizers is crude. Manchester doesn't care about his employees any more than he cares about us. He only cares about his profits.

Boycott Hyatt.

Well if Manchester is really sorry, he can contribute 125,000 to repeal prop 8 and settle his labor dispute fairly. In my mind that would prove that he is really sorry. I suspect that as someone who publicly displays giant toothy grins shared with the likes of Katherine Harris(in the hotel Lobby!), Doug M. is really familiar with how to lie and cheat. He knows he can use you Howard, and you are paying for it with your reputation, I suggest you bail out on him yourself before the grime becomes a permanent stain.

I used to work for PBX which was contracted to Mannchester's hotels. I worked many shifts at Manchester's hotels. He was such a jerk to everyone around him, he acted like owned us. He would walk onto the set n just start bossing people around and cussing them out. true story. I ultimately quit working for PBX cuz it was so bad.

Thanks for the guest commentary. I have considered your words and strongly stand by my original decision.
BOY COTT!

It is easy for Doug Manchester to claim an apology for his significant and important donation to the effort to put Prop 8 on the ballot, since Prop 8 is now part of California's Constitution. With that donation he has personally damaged the lives of untold numbers of Californians.

If Manchester wanted to demonstrate to California that he wishes to atone for his actions, he could take affirmative steps to support the repeal of Proposition 8.

Our understanding is that many of the workers at the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego do not agree with Mr. Bragman about their treatment at MGH, and that many of these workers continue to desire union representation. We at the Courage Campaign believes their efforts deserve support, particularly in light of Manchester's actions in support of Prop 8, and in light of his ongoing failure to work to undo the damage he caused by that support.

The Courage Campaign will continue to endorse the Manchester boycott.

I would be more in synch with the vitriol directed at Doug Manchester -- who I understand is a Catholic and was folowing his own religious beliefs when he made the anti-gay marriage contribution -- if similar boycotts and demonstrations were being directed at other groups that opposed gay marriage.

For example, the conservative churches in poor neighborhoods that are attended by the Latinos and blacks who overwhelmingly opposed gay marriage because they are Southern Baptist or Catholic.

Oh, but going against those groups would be politically incorrect (it also might get you a bloody nose). It is only the white guy wearing a suit who can be guilty.

Let's have an honest discussion about the labor dispute at the hotel.

Just what are the working conditions and what are the workers paid?

So far, we have not been given this information.

We're asked to take one side in a dispute that we know nothing about.

And the only justification for this is that "labor has been supporting us."

Huh? I've never seen any sign that "labor" supports the gay community. And I say that having been in the machinists union.

So let's put a dollar figure on that "support" and hear about the other specific things that labor has done "for" the gay community.

What's the difference between a lawyer and a prostitute?

Prostitutes stay in the back pages of the GLT.