owner of el coyote (LA) donated in support of prop. 8, boycott called

[madmadmad]

i received an email today, alerting me that marjorie christofferson, owner of el coyote mexican restaurant (a los angeles landmark with a SIZABLE gay following), donated $100.00 in support of prop. 8, and that a boycott has been called for. i am sickened by this as el coyote's gay clientele has been incredibly faithful to the restaurant, and provided marjorie with a significant portion of her income. marjorie admits to making the donation at the request of the mormon church, of which she is a member and her donation is also verifiable through the los angeles times. el coyote will be issuing a statement regarding her donation in frontiers magazine, a los angeles glbt weekly.

i'm also sickened because a boycott will hurt marjorie's bottom line, but as she is fairly well to do, she will probably weather the storm ok. the servers and employees of the restaurant, several of whom are gay, are a different story- they are sure to be harmed worse and they certainly don't deserve it...

[David__77]

1. This is the way to do it.

Those who donate need to realize there are consequences to supporting an effort to revoke people's rights.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. True. But, see my comment #2. n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Perhaps a subtle reminder to the owner who her clientele are?

Like leaving (or mailing) rainbow postcards?

And maybe including on the postcards a way for her to make amends for the $100 donation? Like the name of a GLBT-friendly charity she could donate to? Also, if she has gay customers, has anyone considered talking to her? Surely, she can be reasoned with.

Depending on when the donation was made and if she's donated to other anti-GLBT causes before, maybe this donation was a mistake?

Maybe someone lied to her and she sent the money not really understanding what the Proposition was for or against. (Some people have stated that there was some confusion that a "Yes" vote was against gay marriage and a "No" vote was in favor of gay marriage.)

Someone should talk to her.

(EDITED TO ADD some language issues)

[Lost River Ledger]

7. If she is a Mormon....She knows where they stand!

And you can be sure that they told her HOW to vote.....I understand you want to give the benefit of the doubt here, but this is like calling kristallnacht just a misunderstanding.....oy....

[bluedawg12]

9. Of course she knows!

I spent the night before prop8 debating with a cult of Salt member, who used the chance to spout her hate filled cr*p on that forum.

They think homosexuality is immoral, they BELIEVE it will destroy Amerika and she said she was voting for P8 to save our nation. Then, the xian-sheeple chimmed in and the merry gay bashing began.

She knows what she did and further, she will use her letter as a chance to spout her belief theory.

Holy underpants boycott!

[ColbertWatcher]

18. "I understand you want to give the benefit of the doubt"

First off, I am not gay myself, but I have friends and family members who are. Yes, I want to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I also don't want people to be able to claim that the gay community is as knee-jerk as the American Taliban wants to paint you as. I think can be achieved by giving this person (or anyone, really, but since she's been "discovered," why not start with her) the opportunity to make amends.

Look, my feeling is this: the $100 seems like an odd amount. Was it a one-time donation? Was it a few small donations that added up to $100? Why wasn't it $500 or $1,000? I think without a conversation with the woman whose livelihood depends on the gay community (including a way for her to make amends), no one can really know.

I fear a boycott without knowing all the facts could play into the fundies' hands.

[davidinalameda]

34. fuck her

boycott her bigoted ass

she donated to a cause to take away our rights

she voted to take away our rights

she's a Mormon-the church ran a very well organized campaign for Prop 8; she knew what she was doing

[bliss_eternal]

4. Serving jobs around LA are plentiful...

...so don't stress. Seriously, any given day on Craigs list are ads for fine dining, casual places and upscale restaurants in and around West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Century City, etc. You have to vote w/your wallet (so to speak). She knows who eats in her restaurant and still gave money for that prop. That's not ok.

Thanks for the information.
Recommended.

[urgk]

5. I'd ask for proof first.

Just to make sure it's not el Somethingelse-o restaurant down thee street spreading a false rumor. I'm a little suspicious of this kind of e-mail in general, but of course that doesn't mean it can't be true. And then, if it does turn out to be true, I'd punch them right in their economic face.

[Not Me]

6. Show no mercy.

There are more than enough places to do business that are at least neutral in this fight.
Let the Knights of Columbus hold their monthly meetings there.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. ONce I confirm this

the news will be spread around the country, and the world. Her GLBT and show biz clientel will not be amused. She's a rich woman off of the very peoples she votes to discriminate against. She deserves to reap what she has sewn. Many like her are and will be shocked that there are results to hate that might touch their wallet, they assumed impunity to express thier vile hearts. They were wrong.
El Coyote needs to be empty. They need to be picketed. She needs to be called out in everyway as the hypocrite, hate monger, and general a-hole that she is. And really, the food is third rate, folks go there mostly for the Margaritas, which are of course on the list of things Mormons will gladly profit from, but will not partake of due to it being a sin. They sell sin, no problem. She's a Mormon running a loud drunked tequila fest nightly. Wow.

[bluedawg12]

10. If true Boycott!

el coyote should be: the empty coyote!

[mondo joe]

11. Not opposed - but my one issue with boycotts is they are typically too widespread

and diffuse to really matter.

I think they are most impactful when they can be very focused.

[bluedawg12]

16. This one seems local and up close

and personal. Maybe the only message to get these cult wackjobs is where they live--their wallet.
I bet the word will get out among them.

[kwassa]

12. I used to hang out at El Coyote

a throwback to old-time, wildly inauthentic Mexican food.

I think the right thing to do is to confront the owner, and ask her about her contribution face-to-face. If she doesn't make that possible, demonstrate.

[Howardx]

13. gay clientele can make or break a restaurant

break this one. the gay servers should quit at the worst possible time.

[madmadmad]

14. she is meeting with her outraged clientele tomorrow

to somehow try to explain what she has done. i'm going and will report back. it will be very interesting to hear how a bigot justifies her behavior.

[bluedawg12]

15. I predict

it will be nauseating. But please keep us informed. I guess her very act of meeting confirms her treachery, not just money but her f*cking vote!

[EmilyAnne]

22. I'm so glad your going and I can't wait to hear your report!

I've eaten there many times when visiting LA friends and this is really surprising.

[ellius101]

17. Prop 8 contributors

I bet some of these bigots thought they could go under the radar with their contributions. Thanks to a computer savvy specialist and the internet, fat chance!!
Below is a link to the website where one can look up all the Yes on 8 contributors, as well as the good guys, the No on 8's!
Very easy to navigate:

http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/prop8/?appSession=283467309891049

[ColbertWatcher]

19. Great link! Thank you, but ...

... I couldn't find the El Coyote owner on it?

Could someone point me in the right direction on this?

[madmadmad]

29. here you go- from the original email sent to me:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-metro-prop-8,0,2463893.htmlstory?appSession=28346681217679&RecordID=&PageID=2&PrevPageID=2&cpipage=1&CPIsortType=asc&CPIorderby=Position

[ColbertWatcher]

30. Okay, I must be entering the wrong name! (EDITED TO ADD)

And, yes I was!

Found it!

Thank you for your help!

[Maat]

21. I love that site, and have it bookmarked; HOWEVER,

I donated to the www.noonprop8.com effort, and am not listed there. I'll have to email the guy.

In Solidarity and Friendship,

[madmadmad]

my no on 8 contribution didn't show up either

and neither did a friend of mine's. wonder why that is? got my yard signs. though.

[Maat]

33. Maybe he's still putting in data (the guy who set up the site).

I'll email him, and we'll figure it out.

[IndianaGreen]

27. I posted the link in the Indiana forum. We should all do the same in our respective fora.

Why would a Hoosier kick in $1,000 to a proposition in another state? Only a bigot would do that!

[IndianaGreen]

20. The hell with Marjorie's bottom line. Our civil liberties trump her lifestyle!

She is the moron for following the dictates of a church founded by pedophiles and murderers.

[David Zephyr]

25. Right On! I've dropped thousands in that place since the 1970's. Never again.

Never.

[madmadmad]

26. i agree whole heartledly- my sentence just got a bit screwed up...

it should have read "i'm also sickened- not because a boycott will hurt marjorie's bottom line, as she is fairly well to do and will probably weather the storm ok, but the servers and employees of the restaurant, several of whom are gay, are a different story- they are sure to be harmed worse and they certainly don't deserve it..."

really, i SOOO agree- screw her. even if she didn't donate to this directly, if she is a mormon, she is undoubtedly tithing to the church and indirectly funding the church's campaign of hatred and discrimination regardless. i'm attending the meeting tomorrow just tell her to her face that she is no longer getting my money, and hopefully no other gay dollars either. i doubt her business would last long if it was just her mormon buddies as customers, since they don't drink whole lotta margaritas with that no liquor rule and all!

[David Zephyr]

23. The DU had its first hook-up there years ago & I began eating there in 1977.

How sad.

I'll certainly pass this information on to every single one I know.

I will boycott. Period.

[madmadmad]

24. i only started going in 1988, so i'm a latecomer

and even though i'm going tomorrow to hear marjorie out, i'm already pretty much committed to kissing el coyote good-bye. what can she do, apologize? that would basically just be an apology for getting caught:

"oops, i'm sorry i contributed to denying you gays equal rights. i just didn't realize it would affect my business like this- so i'm very regretful about that. now please buy more margaritas so i can tithe more money to my beloved mormon church to fund it's campaign of hatred and discrimination in the rest of the 50 states. remember though, nothing personal- i love you gays!"

[madmadmad]

28. i think there needs to be pickets out front this thursday

thursday night is traditionally "gay night", so maybe pickets out front would alert the few l.a. gays that haven't been getting the boycott emails, to stay the heck away!

[ColbertWatcher]

31. Uh-oh ... looks like Mrs. Coyote also donated $1,000 to Bush in 2004!

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?name=CHRISTOFFERSEN%2C+MARJORIE&state=CA&zip=&employ=&cand=&all=Y&sort=N&capcode=8ytth&submit=Submit

I guess she hasn't done anything to earn that "benefit of the doubt" I was willing to give her. I apologize to anyone for thinking she did deserve it.

Looks like you really fucked up Marjorie!

[DU GrovelBot]

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