Please read this story. Marjorie Christoffersen has been forced to resign from the El Coyote restaurant in West Hollywood because she dared to give $100 to the Prop. 8 campaign. All people interested in religious liberty should condemn the hate campaign of the No on Prop. 8 forces. If you don’t think this affects you, just wait. It may affect you sooner than you think.
Meanwhile, Marjorie, if you read this, I hope you are taking comfort from Matthew 5:11.
Any chance that you could set up a paypal link for donations to Majorie?
A sad story all around. Reminds me very much of a television station where I used to live who lost a GBLT employee in a similar fashion.
That video is a good representation of how so many LDS prop 8 supporters must feel. There stood a gracious women in tears lamenting the suffering she may have caused others by supporting the initiative. And yet she had to support it to be true to her religious/moral convictions.
Steve M, an interesting idea regarding donations to Marjorie. I’m not sure how to reach her. If anybody knows, please have them contact me at geoff@millennialstar.org.
These resignations are a very interesting outcome. Given that the majority of California voters passed Prop. 8, how has there been enough pressure to cause Marjorie Christoffersen, Scott Eckern, and Richard Raddon to resign their jobs? Answer: they were in positions where they dealt with an unusually large number of homosexuals. Eckern and Raddon directed entertainment enterprises, and Christoffersen managed a restaurant that appararently goes out of its way to be gay-friendly. Those pressuring the resignations have decided that if someone isn’t 100% with them, then he is an enemy with whom there can be no dealings. This kind of pressure only has any strength against those like Marjorie Christoffersen who are working in “gay ghettos” but don’t support every single gay cause. If the solidly pro-homosexual faction wants to polarize California into all or nothing camps, they will be disappointed at how insignificant the “all” camp is outside its little world.
My heart goes out to Marjorie and the others who have lost their employment because of their support of Prop 8.
As a supporter of traditional marriage, I am willing to lend my support to Marjorie and others, if I am able, to help them while they find new jobs.
Carrying my point further, its notable actually how few people like Marjorie Christoffersen have been targetted. When tens of millions were donated by pro-8s, and anti-8s go like this after a single woman who donated $100, it’s because vulnerable targets are hard to find.
Here’s Huffington Post calling for a boycott of A-1 Self Storage. Terry Caster, who owns A-1, and his family donated $693,000 to the Yes on 8 campaign, making him the second biggest contributor. I think boycotting his business is a very legitimate thing to do for those who support marriage between homosexuals. And I think this boring old business of no special interest to advocates of single-sex marriage will barely notice there is a boycott against it.
I understand it’s a tough thing that she had to resign, but didn’t she understand there might be consequences to what she did? I would expect consequences from the church if I openly complained about the leadership’s role in the Prop 8 fight. If I did something in my personal life that affected my place of employment, they could easily ask me to resign or fire me, it’s right there in the employee manual. Knowing my employers and the community we live in, I’m willing to bet they would ask me to quit if I openly donated to or supported gay marriage in Utah.
Jjohnsen, people’s private politics should not cause them to have to resign from a job. There is a difference between openly complaining about the Church’s role in gay marriage, which people do on the Bloggernacle all the time (and by the way, I don’t think anybody’s going to get ex’ed for that) and organizing for the No on 8 forces (which people may get ex’ed for — we’ll see). I’m sorry, but I simply don’t believe you that would get fired by anybody for “openly donating to or supporting gay marriage in Utah.” I have worked in a lot of conservative workplaces, and there were all kinds of gay organizers/gay pride people/openly lesbian people, etc, and NONE of them were ever fired or even questioned for their political beliefs. They may have been fired for personal behavior that affected their work (showing up late, being tired, being drunk/on drugs, etc), but NEVER for political beliefs. I really think you need to think that through.
Jjohnsen, one small true story: I once worked at a very big telecom company. We had mandatory gay pride events that were announced by company-wide e-mails like 10 times a year (at least). One time one guy responded to those e-mails saying, “could you please take me off this distro list. I don’t like receiving gay pride e-mails.” Now, his big mistake was to do a “reply all” rather than a private “reply.” In any case, HR zoomed in and the guy was disciplined (suspended for a week without pay, I believe) for not showing sensitivity to diversity. Sorry, Jjohnsen, you’re not going to convince me that you’re ever going to get fired for being in favor of gay marriage in Utah (unless it interferes with your job in some way).
My boss has said as much because we do work for Deseret Industries and occasionally for the Church. I suppose it could be hyperbole, though he seems serious about it. He thinks it would lead to the loss of those contracts if he kept an employee that was vocal about something like opposing Prop 8. I doubt my place of employment is the only place with talk like that in Utah.
To keep perspective, the “threat” against the restaurant by gay people is that we will stop spending out money there. It is only a significant threat because we had previously spent a great deal of money there. The reasons for the boycott are many but I will give you mine; I no longer feel welcome or comfortable at El Coyote. I do feel betrayed by Marjorie. I am still smarting from the second-hand citizen status just given me by those in my state. To go out for an evening and go to a place that I associate with that besmirchment is unthinkable.
What would you have me do? Force myself to buy a margarita from a hostess that did not think my reltionship is equal to others?
Glenn, that is the kind of logic that caused people to decide not to associate with gay people, not to do business with them, to shun them, for many years. People’s private political behavior (and sexual behavior) should have nothing to do with how good a margarita they make or how well they serve their customers. You are certainly welcome to do business with whomever you want, but I am also free to point out your behavior is bigoted, just as mine would be bigoted if I decided not to associate you because of your sexual orientation.