What Would Harvey Milk Say About President Clinton's Speech at the Manchester Hyatt?

This Sunday, President Clinton is scheduled to give a paid speech at the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego to the annual convention of a major political action committee, the International Franchise Association.

To give this speech, President Clinton will have to violate a union boycott and labor dispute - the workers at the hotel lack job security and the housekeepers face onerous workloads. He will also offend gay and lesbian Americans, including myself - the owner of the hotel, Doug Manchester, contributed $125,000 in early seed money to the Proposition 8 campaign. President Clinton should move this speech.

The Manchester Hyatt Boycott has been on since early July, when a coalition of the gay community and labor movement in San Diego announced its call. Since then, the boycott has been remarkably successful in mobilizing hotel guests and large conventions to support marriage equality and economic justice through their choices as consumers. In a local business paper, Hyatt officials admitted that the boycott has cost the hotel $2.4 million. The real cost is likely much higher. Certainly, the Boycott's implications are deeper.

For me the success of the Manchester Hyatt Boycott has been very personal. I worked with Harvey Milk in the 1970s to boycott Coors Beer over the company's anti-gay hiring policies and belligerent stance in contract negotiations towards their workers. It was challenging for me, a young, gay, San Francisco activist, to build bridges with heterosexuals, let alone Teamsters. But we succeeded. As far as I know, the Coors Beer Boycott was the first ever coalition between the gay rights movement and labor unions. To this day, you would be hard pressed to find Coors beer in any gay bar in America. As for me, the Coors Beer Boycott taught me an unforgettable lesson about the power of coalitions in the struggle for equality. That lesson is being replicated today in the successful Manchester Hyatt Boycott in San Diego.

The Manchester Hyatt Boycott is following in Harvey Milk's footsteps by building the bridges necessary to win real equality for gays and lesbians in the state of California and at the Federal level, where we are still denied many fundamental rights such as full Social Security and Veterans' benefits. To win those rights, we are going to need to build alliances with labor and its constituencies: low income workers, immigrants and Latinos. As November's election results clearly showed, we cannot do it alone.

By violating the Manchester Hyatt Boycott, President Clinton will be doing more than just dishonoring the hard work of labor unions and gay activists, he will be casting aside the groundwork we are laying for a broad based, national coalition for equal rights as well as the immediate tasks of achieving marriage equality in California and economic justice for the put upon workers at the hotel.

I think President Clinton should move his speech to honor the boycott. If he doesn't, he will see me, and likely many others, this Sunday on the sidewalk in front of the Manchester Hyatt. That is exactly where Harvey Milk would want me to be.

Comments

[ojorae]

so glad you are still kicking cleve, cheers (iii)D

[rcdcr]

A Clinton will always be a Clinton, huh.

If he REALLY supports the reversal of Prop 8, he should put his money where his mouth is and donate that $125,000.00 speaking fee he received to the HRC or another group working towards Marriage Equality.

To Bill Clinton: put your money where your mouth is, or just shut it.

[mollymac]

I just wrote a letter to the Clinton Foundation regarding the above issue. While he may not be able to change at this late date, he can have his staff adequately research the venue sites before deciding to utilize those facilities.

[Steve Valkenburg]

Thank you Cleve and everyone fighting for Equality. Workers deserve Rights too and I support Unions! When Ceasar Chavez was looking for support...his 1st supporters were the LGBT community in the bay area. The Union movement is very supportive of the LGBT fight.
There are several anti worker/ anti union comments on this post. It just shows how much work is still needed to give individual rights. I support my Union, I support fighting for Marriage Equality and I support the Employee Free Choice Act.

[Kip Williams - Huffpost Blogger]

Right on, Cleve! This boycott is a powerful and inspiring model for building bridges across movements. I wish I could be there to picket with you, but I can't make it down. Whatever happens on Sunday, I hope you'll post again and share the story...

[bbbtmenw]

I will be there, and am sending friends. It will be tight schedule..'cause I need to leave that day for Sacramento as well.

I hope to see you all there at Monday's and Tuesday's Protest Rallies and Lobbying.

Check the events calendar at www.eqca.org

[PBinSoCal]

Organized Labor has evolved into nothing more than an elitist, money pilfering, bullying, 21st Century nightmare-­of-an-inst­itution! And any American for organized labor is either ignorant or sleeping with the union. As recently as 1999, workers in Georgia were murdered for crossing a picket line, and those killed happened to be African American men. Anyone who has ANY first hand experience with seeing union workers "on-the-job" - in GE and GM factories at least - understands that nearly 100 years worth of union benefits such as 100% free health care, egregious paid time off, and absurd pensions has largely contributed to pricing our products right out of their respective market; can you say "entitlement"? I worked with a union gal who also happened to be functionally illiterate at a GE plant in Cincinnati. In 2003, she grossed over $140k rotating onto what the union membership jokingly referred to as "Sputnik Time" Unions should be a thing of the past, or that is what America will end up being...

[Morcat]

That's right. There is a Clinton Foundation, and we can all e-mail them and protest. Here's a link:

http://www.clintonfoundation.org/contact-form

[JohnJames]

Thanks for the link. I e-mailed President Clinton asking him to support the boycott of this hotel.

[marthainmaine]

Jesse Helms would never have been a senator without Coors Beer. They "sponsored" his editorials on WRAL in Raleigh NC. Always always backed him.

[MartiWilkinson]

I don't know what Harvey Milk would do if he were still with us today, but I do know that when the National Communication Association refused to make other arrangements for their convention...a fair number of participants raised money to move their panels to other hotels.

[Helzapoppin]

It's Bill Clinton, what do you expect? You know what they say.. Bill Clinton is always there for you when he needs you.

[ShamusDaedal]

This puts the topping on my disgust with Billy Boy!

His treatment of Lani Guinier and Joycelin Elders was so cowardly and loathsome that he lost me way back then.

Has he EVER stood up for or on any principle? Don't expect him to start now!

[baileysdad]

I made my first-ever campaign contribution to Mrs. Clinton. If her husband keeps this engagement, then I will demand my money back!

[ignorantwillyharper]

Do you think she is any different from Bill?

[thehuff]

"Today, Cleve works as an organizer with the hotel workers’ union, UNITE HERE, building coalitions with the gay community and leading an internal education campaign on LGBT issues with the union’s rank and file members. "

What I don't understand for the life of me is why Mr Jones would want anything to do with Unions. Why would anyone want to build a coalition with a workers' union.
Time to get rid of all Unions!

[normathumb]

Do you like week ends? How about vacations? 40 hour work weeks? Any benefits at all? These things were forced into being by unions, The corporate owners fought these things tooth and nail. They killed many many hundreds, even thousands resisting these things. Even non union industries had to get in line with these innovations in order to be competitive in the worker market. Unions have had a huge impact for the better on American life. As unions have been eroded in our modern business environment so has worker security. There are a world of reasons to build coalitions with unions.

[thehuff]

Really, well I see a world of reasons to get rid of Unions. Let's start with Detroit and the Auto Industry.

[thehuff]

(and i don't think if we get rid of all unions we would have to give up week ends, vacations, 40 hour work weeks and benefits. seriously, do you?

[Raven]

"I think President Clinton should move his speech to honor the boycott."

Amen.

[therightquestion]

I disagree. And I find it interesting that the opponents of proposition 8, rather than broadcasting their appeal, are going after those that disagree with them. If society finds value in what one believes, then there is no need to demonize those that disagree.

[JohnBisceglia]

"there is no need to demonize those that disagree"

Uhhh....there really isn't a "fair fight" in this "disagreement" when ONE side has the very rights and privileges that the other side is being DENIED.

To be clear, these are rights and privileges that are CONSIDERED ESSENTIAL by society to protect loved ones. If they were NOT essential, I doubt they would have existed for this long.

So no, this is NOT a "disagreement". It is a culture war for civil rights, and many of us are fighting with much more than words or votes. PROP 8 supporters can and will pay my taxes this year, an dfrom now on.

[Yermammy]

True Blue Liberals never thought of Slick Willie of anything but Neocon Lite. Clinton's don't do jack without compensation. Three basic reasons Bill is a phoney.
1) Deregulated Banks- economic crisis? (we don't need no friggin' dereg!)
2) Deregulated Telco's- NSA wiretapping? (would have been immensely harder without dereg)
3) NAFTA- (need I say more?)
If you believe this guy was a Democrat, you will believe anything.

[BizarroCub]

Well said...part of the reason I didn't want Hillary anywhere near the top of the ticket.

But then again I find most Democrats aren't actually liberals any way...*shrug*

[SD Indy]

Don't forget, Hillary's work on the board of Walmart - singing praise over them for their anti-union stance.

Don't forget it was Billy Boy that brought about Don't Ask Don't Tell and DOMA, Hopefully we don't have the daughter following in their footsteps, and if she does hopefully she will actually be friendlier toward organized labor and the LGBT community.