Same-sex marriage advocates urged travelers Thursday to boycott two hotels owned by a San Diego County businessman who gave $125,000 to a group backing a California ballot initiative to ban gay marriage.
Doug Manchester, who owns the Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego and the Grand Del Mar golf resort near La Jolla, donated the money to the National Organization for Marriage in January.
Organizers of the boycott said they were publicizing Manchester's contribution now because the measure has since qualified for the November election.
San Diego's gay pride celebration is also scheduled for next week, and visitors planning to attend the event may have booked rooms at Manchester's hotels, said Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate.
"Here is this guy who is discriminating against a minority he wants to make money off of," said Karger, whose group plans to call attention to other donors to the gay marriage ban campaign.
Manchester did not immediately return a call for comment. He told a San Diego newspaper in April that he welcomes gay guests at his properties but as a Catholic believes marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman.
Karger said his group and a union that represents hotel workers in San Diego plan to march outside the Grand Hyatt on July 18. The group is thinking about taking similar action against a San Diego car dealer who gave $25,000 to the Proposition 8 campaign, he said.
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