If you ask me, I don’t want to sleep in a hotel that has a Book of Mormon in the nightstand. They’ve also banned smoking at all their locations. But I digress. Read on for excerpts from the Salt Lake Tribune and the response from AmericasBlog. Marriott brands include Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Marriott Hotels, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inns, and TownePlace Suites.
Note that even while Bill and the Marriott corporation try to avoid being tied to this, there are people who own Marriott hotels who DID support the proposition, such as the Huntington Hotel Group (which has taken down their website) that owns about 15 hotels, mostly under the Marriott brands. I don’t think it’s a stretch to wonder if Mormons who own hotel properties gravitate towards Marriott to operate them. Perhaps even properties owned by the Mormon church (do they own the property next to BYU?).
The Salt Lake Tribune reports:
While acknowledging that he is a Mormon, Bill Marriott said that neither he, nor his company, Marriott International, contributed to the campaign to pass Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative that defines marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.
Marriott has domestic partner benefits, and has earned a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for two consecutive years, Marriott said in a statement earlier this week, and many hotels have been host to LGBT community functions.
John Aravosis at AmericaBlog responds:
“First, I’m sure Domino’s and Coors probably weren’t particular anti-gay companies per se. But the people running the company gave their money to some pretty nasty conservative causes. That money came from us, their customers. And I suspect Bill Marriott, as a good Mormon, gives 10% of his gross income to the Mormon church as is required. And the Mormon church is personally responsible for taking away our rights in California. We were winning on Prop 8 until the Mormons parachuted in and dropped as much as $20 million (one estimate is that Mormons gave 77% of the entire budget the bigots had to push Prop 8). The Mormons did this to us. So I have a problem with enriching Bill Marriott so that he can enrich bigots who take away our civil rights”
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November 15th, 2008 at 7:15 am
So based on multiple, unconfirmed hunches of John Aravosis’ we’re supposed to boycott a company that didn’t contribute to the Yes on 8 campaign and which has had LGBT friendly policies for years? Are we really that simple minded and spiteful?
Do I really want to know the answer to that question?
November 16th, 2008 at 8:55 am
The Mormon church used their vast resources of money and people to launch a war against our equal rights. Is it petty for me to avoid any possibility my money will go into the hands of Mormons who will use that money against my interests? Let me answer that for you – no.
The Mormans need a clear message that we are not going to tolerate these attacks and efforts to make us 2nd class citizens. That includes those we can directly link to funding and volunteering, as well as general members. No more Mr. Nice Gay.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
this is so interesting. a church that teaches that black people are black because they are evil and are being punished for it im not surprised they are finding another minority to pick on. i’m straight, but this is un christian and somewhat satanic to use money and power against the little guy who isn’t harming anyone.