You might remember that Doug Manchester, chairman of Manchester Financial Group and owner of the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego and the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina, among other properties, donated $125,000 to support Prop.
Now in an effort to make nice with the gays and to get that valuable "Pink Dollar" he has announced that he will donate $25K in support of LGBT causes and an additional $100K in hotel credits. He has also retained a "crisis management" publicist that is openly gay. (Like that's supposed to make you feel better)
The Publicist told The Advocate on Friday that "Mr. Manchester’s beliefs were clearly misconstrued. He did give $125,000 to Yes on 8 and he is opposed to the concept of religious gay marriage. However, he is in no way homophobic and is 100% in favor of gay people having every legal right that straight people have. This is an attempt to clarify his position."
However like myself this effort has not impressed Fred Karger, the head of Californians Against Hate.
"It’s an insult to the gay and lesbian community and our labor allies that he is attempting after 10 months to go around us and buy his way out of this boycott," he said. Karger settled two of the four boycotts he began against companies in the wake of Proposition 8. High-end juicemakers Bolthouse Farms settled after five weeks of negotiations, and now according to Karger they have changed their company policy and have since given $110,000 to various organizations.
Karger insists Manchester's move is largely for show and largely financial.
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