It has been 10 days since voters in California passed Proposition 8 with 52.5% of the vote. In the days that followed, opponents of Prop 8 took to the streets to express their outrage over their loss. They have accused the entire black community in California of bigotry, they have demonized the Mormon church for its support of Prop 8, and, in Michigan, they have even raided a church during services to stage an obscene protest.
Now, according to an LA Times report, they have chosen a new target for their activism. Their organizational efforts are now fixed on damaging the businesses and disrupting the income of their political and ideological foes.
One example given:
Hundreds of protesters converged on El Coyote on Beverly Boulevard on Wednesday night, and the picketing got so heated that LAPD officers in riot gear had to be called. All because Marjorie Christoffersen, a manager there and a daughter of El Coyote’s owner, had contributed $100 to the Yes on 8 campaign. Christoffersen, who is Mormon, met with protesters Wednesday and at one point broke down in tears, said Arnoldo Archila, another El Coyote manager. But the activists were not satisfied with her explanation and continued to post protests about her on the Web. ”She had a chance to make nice and blew it. I was almost feeling a tiny bit of sympathy for her. Not no more!!” wrote one blog poster, who also listed competing Mexican restaurants where diners should go instead of El Coyote. By Thursday, Christoffersen had left town, said Archila, who said El Coyote employees — some of whom are gay — were left staggered by the protests, including more than 50 calls a day criticizing the restaurant. ”We are all a family,” Archila said. “If this is going to affect the business, its going to affect them. There are people who have to feed children and pay mortgages.”
Another example:
Some activists are now turning their attention to Texas-based Cinemark, one of America’s largest theater chains, whose chief executive contributed nearly $10,000 to Yes on 8. A prolonged protest could cause trouble for the Sundance Film Festival, which uses Cinemark screens to show movies during the January event in Park City, Utah. The state of Utah is a focus of some boycotts because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has its headquarters there, marshaled millions of dollars in contributions from its members for the Yes on 8 campaign. Brooks Addicott, a spokeswoman for the Sundance Institute, said the festival received about 100 e-mails over the last few week, many of which had the same text, but it appeared that the efforts had peaked. ”Our position is that we have a festival that is essentially three months away,” Addicott said. “We are committed to having our 25th festival; it’s a celebration for us. We would be incredibly disappointed if people decided not to come because of a boycott.”
Yet another:
…One business affected by the campaign is Lassen’s, a family-owned chain of nine health food stores throughout California, from Bakersfield to Thousand Oaks. Lassen’s owners gave $27,500 to the Yes on 8 campaign. Scott Parvel, general manager of the Ventura store, said the contribution was a “private donation” by family members who are Mormon. But No on 8 supporters listed their stores along with many others on websites, urging a boycott. Since the election, the stores have received angry calls about Proposition 8 as well as comments from customers. “They have a right to their views, but they should take it up with the person who did it, not the people who work here. . . . We’re providing a business, that’s all we do,” said Parvel, who has worked for the company since 2001.
Apart from these tactics being hateful, coercive, and intimidating, they are just plain stupid.
- Demonstrate at El Coyote’s because of the owner’s daughter’s $100 donation and hurt that business … you know all the employees there that are going to lose their jobs are Prop 8 supporters, right?
- Boycott Cinemark and boycott Utah. Damage the independent film industry … you know there aren’t any Prop 8 opponents working in the independent film industry, right?
- Boycott and harass Lassen’s health food stores and cause them financial troubles … you know there aren’t any Prop 8 opponents that are going to lose their jobs or have their hours cut back as a result, right?
UPDATE
Just saw this at Michelle Malkin’s site. An excerpt:
The mainstream media have so far failed to get across the intensity of the ordeal that supporters of Prop 8 may now be subject to-something I realized on coming across this extraordinary blog account of a meeting at the legendary restaurant El Coyote in Hollywood, not far from where I grew up in Laurel Canyon. The meeting was between the elderly Mormon owner, who['s daughter] donated $100 to support Prop 8, and Prop 8 opponents, who are threatening a boycott, and it is as soul- grinding as something out of Soviet show trial history.
