LOS ANGELES – Gay rights activists pledged a boycott of the Beverly Hills Hotel today, citing the hotel owner’s state-sponsored homophobia. The hotel is owned by the nation of Brunei, a country in South East Asia where male homosexuality is a crime.
A video made by the group calls on supporters to “break up” with the hotel and to not stay there again until Brunei changes its laws. It asks viewers who “wouldn’t eat at Chick-fil-A,” why they would “dine at the Beverly Hills hotel.” Last year, gay-rights groups launched a successful boycott of Chick-fil-A because of contributions the owner made to anti-gay groups.
The video appears on a website maintained by Unite Here, a labor union that has fought for equal treatment of LGBT people. It includes an appearance by Derek Lloyd Saathof, a cast-member of the Logo Network show, A-List: New York.
My husband is a member of Pen International and every December we go there for the Awards banquet. We always stay at the hotel because it makes the celebration easier. Not this year, I’m breaking up with the Beverly Hills Hotel.