"...No dollar amount will stop us..."

by Michael Anderson
Originally published in Activist San Diego's Activist Update. Michael Anderson is a member of SAME.

In July 2008 the LGBT community joined forces with the Labor Movement when a Boycott on the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego was called for. Unite Here Local 30, Sleep With The Right People, San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality (S. A. M. E.), Californians Against Hate, among numerous other local, state, and national organizations have joined in the Boycott. Almost weekly activist converge outside of the Hyatt to flier, bullhorn, chant, drum, and further disrupt the daily commerce of the Hyatt in an effort to bring attention to the exploitation of Hyatt's workers, and the hypocrisy of Doug Manchester for his contribution of $125k to Prop 8 while at the same time spending millions to advertise to the LGBT community.

By banding together, we have let the public know that exploiting your workers and donating to laws designed specifically to take the rights of minorities away will cost you. In the case of the Manchester Grand Hyatt, activist have cost him over $7,000,000 and each day, by our efforts, this amount is growing.

Manchester believed that he could buy off the LGBT community with $100,000 in credits for gay rights groups to use the facilities at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. He's also offering a $25,000 direct donation to an unnamed gay rights organization. Papa Doug (as he likes to be called) attempts to bribe the LGBT community and to divide our movement have failed and all attempts to pit gay vs gay vs labor will continue to fail. Here in San Diego we have a strong alliance that will not so easily be bought off. This is because of our understanding of what unifies LGBT people and Labor.

To quote John Stewart "When are we going to realize in this country that our wealth is work?". In other words, what connects the vast majority of people is that all we have to sell is our labor power. This connection is put into practice here in San Diego by the strong bond between the LGBT and Labor forces. There is no dollar amount will stop us from organizing to ensure job security for the hotel workers. No dollar amount will stop us from organizing to end the exploitation of Hyatt housekeepers who are forced to clean nearly double the amount of rooms as other Hyatts and hotels in the area. There is no dollar amount that will divide Labor and the LGBT community because we realize our movements are interrelated and what effects one effect all.