A life thrown into turmoil by $100 donation for Prop. 8

[cboy4]

Steve Lopez
December 14, 2008

Margie Christoffersen didn't make it very far into our conversation before she cracked. Chest heaving, tears streaming, she reached for her husband Wayne's hand and then mine, squeezing as if she'd never let go.

"I've almost had a nervous breakdown. It's been the worst thing that's ever happened to me," she sobbed as curious patrons at a Farmers Market coffee shop looked on, wondering what calamity had visited this poor woman who's an honest 6 feet tall, with hair as blond as the sun.

Well, Christoffersen was a manager at El Coyote, the Beverly Boulevard landmark restaurant that's always had throngs of customers waiting to get inside. Many of them were gay, and Christoffersen, a devout Mormon, donated $100 in support of Proposition 8, the successful November ballot initiative that banned gay marriage.

She never advertised her politics or religion in the restaurant, but last month her donation showed up on lists of "for" and "against" donors. And El Coyote became a target.

A boycott was organized on the Internet, with activists trashing El Coyote on restaurant review sites. Then came throngs of protesters, some of them shouting "shame on you" at customers. The police arrived in riot gear one night to quell the angry mob.

The mob left, but so did the customers.

Sections of the restaurant have been closed, a manager told me Friday during a very quiet lunch hour. Some of the 89 employees, many of them gay, have had their hours cut, and layoffs are looming. And Christoffersen, who has taken a voluntary leave of absence, is wondering whether she'll ever again be able to work at the restaurant, which opened in 1931 (at 1st and La Brea) and is owned by her 92-year-old mother.

"It's been so hard," she said, breaking down again.

A lot of customers saw Christoffersen as the face of the restaurant. She was the hostess who roamed from table to table with a pitcher of water, refilling glasses and schmoozing with friends.

Christoffersen, raised Mormon by her late father, told me she has no problem with gay people.

"I love them like everybody else."

But she supports her church's position that marriage is between a man and a woman.

I, on the other hand, opposed Prop. 8. And as I wrote more than once, I think organized Christian religion reached new levels of hypocrisy in using the Bible to preach discrimination and promote the initiative.

As for the Mormons, I have trouble taking any cues on social mores from a group whose founder and early leaders believed they were acting on directives from on high when they took enough wives -- many in their teens -- to fill every booth in the cavernous El Coyote.

But I didn't like what I was hearing about the vilification of Margie Christoffersen and others in California being targeted for the crime of voting their conscience.

"I agree with you on this," said Fred Karger. On his Californians Against Hate website, Karger has been outing Prop. 8 supporters, but he thinks Christoffersen's small personal donation didn't warrant such a backlash against El Coyote. Karger also spoke out against the resignation of a Sacramento theater director who gave $1,000 to Yes on 8 and happens to be Mormon.

The focus should be on the Mormon Church, Karger said, and on people and businesses that gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Yes on 8. Wayne Christoffersen, who is also a manager at El Coyote, is not a Mormon, and he said he doesn't care who marries whom. But he doesn't think it's right that he and other employees at the restaurant are seeing their livelihoods threatened. Should Apple be boycotted by Yes on 8 people, he asked, simply because the computer company donated $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign?

El Coyote has never been known for gourmet cuisine. But the warm, kitschy vibe and cool patio scene have always been a hit with customers willing to wait in long lines under the distinctive neon sign.

Now business is off about 30%, Wayne said. Margie wants to blame it on the economy, because she can't deal with the alternative. But Wayne insisted the low-priced restaurant is largely recession-proof, and it's the controversy that has stemmed the flow of margaritas.

Margie tried to smooth things over last month by inviting gay clients to a free lunch to talk it over, but she left in tears when asked if she would write a check to the group challenging Prop. 8.

KEEP READING -------------------> http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-me-lopez14-2008dec14,0,1616624.column

[cboy4]

1. What a despicable column.

But it looks like her actions are having consequences. She should be ashamed of herself for causing sections of the restaurant to close and causing hours to be cut....and now, it appears....layoffs.

Completely her fault.

Maybe others will learn.

Actions Have Consequences

Oh, and a special fuck you to Steve Lopez at the LA Times. :puke:

[AntiFascist]

36. The LA Times AGAIN!

They really have become quite the Prop. 8 apologists.

[roguevalley]

60. live by the sword, die by the sword. The LDS church is its people,

not anything else. It doesn't exist outside of them and when it acts it actions are based on its people and they carry then out. She is getting a taste of being cast out, of losing livelihood, of being left out. TOo bad. For every action, there is a reaction. She should think for herself. She is only sad for herself. she would do it again. She is a hater and this is what happens when you hate.

[IndianaGreen]

63. Tell Margie that her marriage to Wayne is no longer recognized by California

and give her a taste of what Prop 8 has done to gay couples.

[regnaD kciN]

2. Poor widdle baby...

First off, Margie is not just "a manager" -- she'll own the restaurant when her elderly mom passes on.

Second, she made a point of refusing to apologize during a meeting with L.A. gay leaders...but did pull her "poor, poor, pitiful me" act to the point of having to be helped out of the room after basically telling a large portion of her clientele that, although she "loves them" (as paying customers :eyes: ), she believes they should, by law, be treated as second class citizens.

Poor Margie! :nopity:

[Clovis Sangrail]

3. she would have been fuckin' fired if she wasn't the owner's kid /nt

[glowing]

5. Yep.

[glowing]

4. Perhaps, now she has just a clue what it feels to be ostricized, criticized,

lose business, lose livlihood, worry about her future, and face discrimination.. something she should have thought about before deciding to police love. She's an idiot. She wants to be the victim. She's not. She's the oppressor and she's seeing what happens when other's use their buying power and free speech to object to hate. On the other hand, these life altering decisions should not be a referendum on a ballot. You don't put a minority group on a ballot. You protect them thru the courts or thru legislation.

[tom_paine]

6. Whew, this is a tough one Should this woman and her establishment be driven out of business?

Part of me, the zealous part, says a resoundng yes.

The American part of me, the part that has been so dimished by the growth of Nazi-like monsters in our land (they have always been with us, but the Bushies have grown their monstrous numbers tenfold in the past 28 years - things that one used to have to go to a KKK meeting to hear are now voiced nightly on Bushie TV and radio), says it's wrong.

OF COURSE, THAT ONLY APPLIES IF AMERICA STILL EVEN EXISTS in any real sense, as anything but the Sister Nation of Russia and China...just another Empire trying to play the Great Game, with no moral standing above any of the other corrupt Empires that have done the same, material wealth notwithstanding.

I am trying to believe that is not the case, but pretty much every day tells me that America actually died, though it's death will not be acknowledged for centuries, when FDR let Prescott Bush go, so that his children and grandchildren could go on to commit serial high treason and ventilate the Kennedy Family, so these relatively (relative to the evil Nazi Bushies) "good Caesars" would never have a chance to rule a democracy that had apparently died long ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml

How does this relate to the topic? Just this: if the Bushies have successfully destroyed America, even though they HAD to let us vote this time or damage their prize by having to brutally put down the peasantry, then we are Jews in a New Nazi Germany.

If this is the case, and I am trying hard to believe it isn't in spite of what my lying eyes tell me, then we "Jews" are justified in taking long overdue actions against Good Germans, who naturally see themselves as blameless.

I am not sure which side I come down on, and this is a tough one.

If the Bushies continue to run this country as if they had the throne and majorities...which they MIGHT, and the media sinks back from "mostly disgraceful" to what they have been for at least a decade, a state-controlled joke of a laughingstock of the ideal media a tyrant would want, one which gives every appearence of being free and independant (for the suckers, you know...the peasantry) while being as state-controlled as anything in Commie China, then I shall adjust my views accordingly.

Know what? Fuck that woman. Let her taste the pain her Bushie-Nazi Fuhrers have delivered to MILLIONS aroung the world, 99% of them who didn't deserve it.

Let her, for the first time in her life, bear the responsibility for the evil she embraces, but remains clueless about, simply because she keeps her hands clean and leaves the destruction and killing to others.

Yes, indeed, perhaps she should. And perhaps after writing this, I am not as much "on the fence" as I thought I was.

ON EDIT:

As a straight dude, but a strong believer in what Washington said - and all our LGBT brothers and sisters should REMEMBER this quote, because it sure does sound like ol' Washington would have been in favor of gay marriage, were he able to wrap his 18th Century mind around such a concept.

"As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality."
-- George Washington

This should be the flagship saying, IMHO, of the LGBT Movement.

[last1standing]

8. She is actively working to deny human beings of their Constitutional rights.

Fuck her and anyone else who thinks it's their "god-given right" to strip others of their civil liberties.

It really is an easy choice, isn't it?

[tom_paine]

9. Know what? I think you might be right.

I as much as said so by the end of my previous post.

[last1standing]

11. I know. I was agreeing with you.

n/t

[IndianaGreen]

24. But Margie and others like her "voted their conscience!"

The same flawed argument can be applied to those Nazis that followed "their conscience" when they slaughtered millions! :puke:

[Phredicles]

67. That was the most disingenuous point in the whole column;

if all she did was VOTE her "conscience", no one need ever have known. But $100 is a significant enough chunk of change that a person who donates it means business. So she shouldn't be too surprised if business is what it costs her.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised at Lopez. I guess his latching onto the Christofferson "Feel Sorry For Poor Oppressed Me" media blitz is an example of the mainstream media demonstrating their non-librulness by finding an issue to take a noisily right-wing position on.

[mondo joe]

19. She shouldn't be driven out of business. People should just put their $ where they

want to and where they feel the are serving themselves.

If the result is that someone is put out of business, so be it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

29. why is this hard for you? we have a right and an obligation to NOT participate in our oppression. nt

[mitchtv]

39. Well, as a Gay, I have no problem boycotting until she resigns,

is fired, or el Coyote goes out of business. Donating to, and voting for, are two different things. They old Boycotts hurt people was used against the South Africa boycot, and all the strates lined up against it. Are my rights any less important? BTW it worked in SA and will work here. Thae article was a disgusting buy in to the persecuted Xian bullshit. Those fascist Mor ons can eat mcshit and die. along with their hypocritical fundy and Catholic allies. The Sacto resignation was a significant victory .Time to get the Cinemark theaters , now. It is sad to see that strates can't understand our rage and the reasons for it, and to not understand their stake in all this.

[last1standing]

7. And all she wanted to do was to interfere with other people's lives.

Why should she be punished for merely trying to punish others? What did she do to deserve being made the brunt of an organized effort to rob her of her rights?

Do I even need the sarcasm smiley? :mad:

[2Design]

10. she wanted to deny others rights - so now hers are trampled too

maybe they will get this and maybe they never can -

[Shipwack]

12. I disagree... making money is not a "right" nt

[mondo joe]

22. And no one has a right to our spending. It our right to decide where to spend.

And where not.

[Shipwack]

26. ITA... You said better what I was trying to get across. nt

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

13. That hundred dollars didn't seem like a lot of money at the time for her,

and now it's gonna cost her thousands dollars worth of business.


...

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Lopez sucks as does Christofferson

El Coyote was practically my after hours office for years. I have so many great stories from those rooms and patios. None of those stories involve the food, as the food has always been far from the best Mexican food in town. Far. What they were selling was comfort, atmosphere and a relaxed environment. Chirstofferson destroyed the product they lived by. And now she whines. Seems the Mormons ought to give her custom, if she is so deserving of a huge income.
I do wonder about a Mormon who sells more margaritas than tamales, and why the hell she picks on the lives of others while dispensing many products for profit that her church sees as sinful. Hypocritical as anything. Dogma for me, but not for her.
And that guy in Sacramento, he'd not be able to do his job. He needs the ability to attact talent, not send talent running in the other direction.
These are two examples of hubristic hypocrites who bit the hand that fed them. And now they are crying that the gravy train has ended. Two of the stupidest people I have ever read about. They both seemed unaware that political contributions are a matter of public record, and that the public is free to do as they wish with that information.
People in hospitality who think they can insult their own customer and employee base really ought to know better.

[AntiFascist]

37. I think you've keyed into the precise problem...

the Christian Right needs to have others to oppress so that it elevates those who adopt their faith. This philosophy is about as anti-Christian as it can get, yet it has been adopted by many power-hungry "faiths" that attempt to raise 'more money than God' and dominate the world. Right-wing Catholics, and their respective organizations, are just as bad.

[IndianaGreen]

38. Let the fraking Mormon Church compensate Margie for her loses!

The motherfraking Mormon leaders won't do that! All these frakers care about is the money they get from their gullible followers.

[norepubsin08]

15. FUCK HER

Donating to a campaign, no matter how much goes well beyond what the average person does in a campaign. It means you are not only investing your endorsement and time, but also a part of your assets. As an adult who is of that age, one should have watched enough news to know that political action can and will have consequences. Tough shit..she got what she deserves...if the opposite side wants to (which it has often) protest against the GLBT community) that is their right also. The Mormon Church couldn't have done this with out all the direct donations of their followers, not to mention the indirect donations. Maybe this will put a chill on those who want to bank roll discrimination!!!

[RetiredTrotskyite]

16. Hurts, Doesn't It?

I really cannot feel sorry for this woman since she and her family were living off an enterprise which was heavily gay-patronised. LGBTQ people have every right to withhold their hard-earned money from businesses whose owner/future owners receive our money with open arms, then make stab us in the back by making contributions to crap such as Yes on 8. as has been said elsewhere on this thread: actions have consequences. The time is past when LGBTQ people would just take defeat and continue to patronise hypocrites like the family that runs El Coyote. Not any more.

I feel sorry for the employees, sure--no one with any heart likes seeing hours cut or layoffs--been there several times in my life--but the LGBTQ community has drawn a line in the sand and I am on their side in this.

[bluedawg12]

17. The point of a boycott is to demonstrate the ramifications of the Hate8 vote. It's working.

Yes, even for $100- the message is getting out. People are free to be bigots but it carries consequences.

[hulklogan]

18. No remorse for that bigot.

I hope she's learned her lesson.

[WillParkinson]

20. My reply to him: You can express yourself as a citizen was the final line in a recent column..

And that's exactly what people are doing. Choices have consequences. Her personal donation shows that the "love" she has for everyone extends only so far. If she were a bigot or homophobe, he said...because she's not blatant about it does not make her any less a bigot.

Ms. Christoffersen can cry and claim she does not understand why. I'm sure the thousands of gays and lesbians who were told they were equal citizens feel the same way. She voted to take away their rights but now doesn't understand why they're against her.

Odd.

===

Sorry if it doesn't make a lot of sense. 28 hours without sleep does that to me.

[IndianaGreen]

21. Frak her and her feel-sorry-for-me melodrama!

She is a despicable human being!

[bluedawg12]

44. So, she got caught red handed and right wing LA Times is playing on sympathy.

"She was the hostess who roamed from table to table with a pitcher of water, refilling glasses and schmoozing with friends."

Then they go onto say that many of the customers were gay. How many gays did she smile at falsely, schmooze, fill up their water glass and then turn around and financially support Hate8 and push the "Yes" button?

The rw repig rag is over the top with this story.

[mondo joe]

23. If I had to lose my job or my marriage, I can tell you the job would be the lesser

of the two.

[Zuiderelle]

25. Sorry, but she gets no sympathy from me. Gays who've not had the benefits of marriage have suffered

The family of Lisa Pond who were denied access to see her in the hospital where she died because their mothers were not married, suffered and continue to suffer far more than this woman.

http://www.lambdalegal.org/news/pr/lesbian-fights-for-justice-for-partner.html

Someone who votes against civil equality, who has no conscience or compassion for other human beings who suffer gets no sympathy from me for their small inconveniences.

[jonmiller74]

27. Ms. Christoffersen don't think of it as a boycott...

think of it as the GLBT community respecting you beliefs. Think of them as strangers, who care enough about you rights as a citizen to express yourself, that they don't want you to have to face Happy, Loving relationship that have caused you enough consternation you wrote a check against them. Don't worry about not coming to your restaurant on Thursdays anymore, it's a nice gesture but I would not spend my money at any business that didn't respect my fundamental rights. See, as a black male I wouldn't donate to a klan fundraiser, nor would I give you money to use against me.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

28. next time you vote to take away my rights, remember i have a fucking wallet

[mondo joe]

30. A thousand recs for that post.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

31. thanks. i have no sympathy in this bullshit. we have a moral obligation to NOT

participate in our oppression. for the next generation of glbt youth, we cannot let people go unpunished

[davidinalameda]

59. and the internet where we can tell others who have a wallet

to keep it closed!

[Paschall]

32. Her life... taken away.

"She has been a nightly fixture at El Coyote for two decades, walking to work from her home just a few doors away. It's been her life, she said. And she can't stand that it's been taken away."

Guess she really would have fallen apart if her marriage had been taken away...

[IndianaGreen]

33. I don't see the state invalidating her marriage to her husband

Yet, she sees nothing wrong in the state invalidating the marriage of gay couples. Frak her!

[WillParkinson]

34. To be honest, I do feel sorry for her...

To put your life into something and try to build a foundation with it.
To invest time, energy, money, blood, sweat, and tears.
To have something that your family loves falling apart.
To see it taken away from you by people who have no idea how much it hurts you.

Oh, wait. That's my life. What was her bitch again?

[Zuiderelle]

35. Very nice.

:thumbsup:

And well put.

[mitchtv]

40. needs to more recs

Great photo

[Zuiderelle]

41. The mistake here is that this writer thinks that a mere $100 shouldn't warrant such a backlash.

Where do we draw the line then? If someone hates us and gives 1 penny, or even 1 word, to fight against our rights, it warrants the backlash, in my opinion. How is it any different that having a million dollars? The hate is the same. This is exactly why the Mormon church told their followers to give individually, so that they could shirk their own responsibility in this and lay it on their members. Well, this is the price. I hope this eventually leads to the downfall of the Mormon Church.

Who the hell wants to go to a Mexican restaurant owned and run by a white Mormon anyway?

[jberryhill]

42. As if the POINT of Prop. 8 wasn't to "throw lives into turmoil"

WTF? People don't have to spend money at a business which is run by people who want to screw with their lives.

That's like saying "my life has been thrown into turmoil" because nobody wants to visit my auto shop after finding out I spend my weekends at Klan rallies.

People don't HAVE to visit my auto shop, and they are free to discourage other people from patronizing my business for any reason they want.

Let dedicated Mormons flock to her restaurant, if that's what they want.

[bluedawg12]

43. If she's so principled she should have kept her job and watched revenues fall.

I guess she only wants to gay bash when it's cheap and stealthy and her "values" only goes so far as the bottom line of business revenue. Coward.

The boycott makes the cost of bigotry very expensive, the days of gay bashing on the cheap and in secret are over.

[closeupready]

45. The thing of it is that she could do a 180 on this right now & the GLBT community would forgive her

and would be back at El Coyote tonight.

But she stands her ground, doesn't apologize for her financial support for bigotry against gays, makes no indication she plans to support organizations which fight discrimination.

LA Times, get back to me when she reverses course.

[bluedawg12]

54. Frankly I wouldn't, not even if she recants, here's why:

She continues to do damage to the gay community by going to the press with these sob stories and some members of the 4th estate seem to have no qualms about using her blubbering story to fabricate gay riots and gay violence stories and her continued self portrayal as a "victim" continues her war against gays in the press.

This is the same crap that other right wing groups have been pawning off on the public about gay violence and so far it all comes down to falsehoods as I have not heard of any arrests of gay or allied protestors. She is just mouthing the same lies as Tony Pukens from fracas on the family.

She has let the golden hour pass, and has now rubbed more salt in an open wound.

See story about the LAT Lopez bull sh*t:
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/tag/el-coyote

[closeupready]

55. Valid points.

n/t

[OneBlueSky]

46. c'mon, folks . . . the gay employee of the restaurant is right . . .

she may have donated $100 bucks to the passage of Prop. 8, but she did it as a private citizen, not as a representative of El Coyote . . . the restaurant had nothing to do with it . . . and punishing the entire staff, including the gay ones, is more than a little harsh . . .

the venom should be directed at the Mormon Church, which is the outfit that teaches people like this woman to hate . . . it should not be directed at her personally, especially since it also directly and negatively impacts all of her co-workers and customers . . .

it's all about context . . . let's keep it in proper perspective, please . . .

[bluedawg12]

47. Here's my "perspective"

She's the daughter of the owner.

She thought that donating a "small" amount would not appear on a list of PHate8 supporters and she was wrong.

She got caught.

No one forced her to resign.

If she donated for Hate 8 and voted for it then, she should stand by her choice, if she is that principled, or unless taking away a group's civil rights is such a cavalier venture, then stay on the job regardless of boycott.

She had a chance to recant, or at least change her politics and did not.

"El Coyote Cafe became involved in a boycott by the Gay & Lesbian community after allegations that Marjorie "Margie" Christoffersen, the restaurant manager (and daughter of the owner) had financially supported Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to eliminate marriage rights from the Gay and Lesbian community. The restaurant held a press conference attended by local news outlets requesting a lift on the ban and to allow Ms. Christoffersen to explain her position. Ms. Christoffersen reiterated her support of Prop. 8 before being escorted out rear exit. "
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Coyote_Cafe

People have every right to spend their money as they see fit.

Now, she is adding insult to injury playing the victim and playing for public sympathy and making the gay community out to be the bad guys and using a right wing, republican rag as more MSM antigay bullshi*t flows.

And are you freaking kidding me?

>>She blubbered all over again as she thought back on the last month. She has been a nightly fixture at El Coyote for two decades, walking to work from her home just a few doors away. It's been her life, she said. And she can't stand that it's been taken away.

On the other side, thousands of gay people can't stand that their recent marriages could be taken away, and thousands more feel as though their civil rights have been violated.<<

On the other side?

"thousands of gay people can't stand that their recent marriages could be taken away..."

Nor could she, nor could the bullsh*t author of the article tolerate their "marriages could be taken away."

"...and thousands more feel as though their civil rights have been violated."

"As though?"

As though?

As in actual fact thousands of civil rights were violated.

She made her decision now she needs to stop blubbering and accept her consequences for her own actions, along with the "family" business.

[bluedawg12]

53. Even more pathetic - the employees got together and donated for antiHate8

but the actual manager only wanted to donate $50 to "quiet" the protestors. That's called STFU donations.

The rank and file employees tried to make amends and donated to Equality California, but not the blubbering girl, not back in Nov. not now. What she did do was go to the news rag with her sob story justifying herself and acting the victim, as if she was just one of the staff and not part of the family that owns the business.

.......
From a LAT story Nov 15, 2008:

"Employees of the Los Angeles restaurant that came under fire this week after a manager gave $100 to the campaign to ban same-sex marriage in California said they had made a $500 contribution to the advocacy group that is raising money to challenge Proposition 8."

<snip>

"According to another manager, Arnoldo Archila, El Coyote employees pooled their money to make the donation -- though it wasn't clear who actually contributed. He said Christoffersen was not involved in the decision."

What did she do? She blubbered some more.

"Christoffersen, a Mormon, met with protesters Wednesday, and at one point broke down in tears. But some activists said they still faulted her for making the donation."

And what did the manager do?

"Manager Larry Crenshaw gave $50 to "try to smooth things over" and counter the boycott. He said the protests had started to affect employees."

<snip>

"We're just kind of dealing with it, and we're hoping it will blow over," Crenshaw said. "We're hoping this will ease things, but it seems like they want a personal apology or a donation made by Margie to kind of equal what she made . . . and she has refused because it's her own personal belief."

Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-elcoyote15-2008nov15,0,6294928.story

[cboy4]

48. Oh boo-fucking-hoo.

She should have known better contributing hate money she knew would harm her employees and the customers she allegedly loved soooo much. :eyes:

You need a crash course in logic if you can't recognize the connection between being a private citizen and a "representative of El Coyote"

Sorry about coming across as an asshole, but I'm sick and tired of excusing bigotry.

[mitchtv]

62. It wasn't you who came off as an asshole

You got it right

[cboy4]

64. Thanks.

I'm so sick and tired of these motherfuckers.

Seriously.

[bluedawg12]

49. Here’s a little perspective about the Lopez LAT article:

Riot gear and mobs? More anti-gay libel about gay mobs and violence is more like it!

http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/tag/el-coyote

>>LA Times columnist Steve Lopez has decided to come riding up on his white horse to the aid of poor Margie Christoffersen.

And you know how sometimes you read a story and it becomes clear that the writer has no idea what they’re talking about? That was pretty evident in this case.

Lopez is not known for his balanced reporting. I don’t regularly read his column because it seldom includes much more than his own personal views illustrated by an anecdotal story. And this time he was no more prepared, knowledgeable, or objective than usual.

A boycott was organized on the Internet, with activists trashing El Coyote on restaurant review sites. Then came throngs of protesters, some of them shouting “shame on you” at customers. The police arrived in riot gear one night to quell the angry mob.

Steve doesn’t tell you that the “angry mob” consisted mostly of regular customers and that those throngs met mostly on one night organized for just that purpose. Nor were they in any way “quelled”. Lopez selected untruthful imagery to advance his argument.

<snip>

But it wouldn’t stir up sympathy for Margie if he said, “Four police officers helped keep the protest on the sidewalk. The crowd was cooperative and at no time was there any confrontation with the police.”

<snip>
El Coyote was not a restaurant with one “gay night”. On any given night of the week a significant segment of the customers were gay.

And gay customers are not upset that Margie was there on Thursdays. They are upset that she betrayed them. Clearly neither Lopez nor Wayne Christoffersen yet understand why El Coyote’s gay customers left. <<

[bluedawg12]

50. The LA Times is owned by the right wing repig Trib.

They are owned by the now going into bankrupcy Chicago Tribune newsrag.

Know the real enemy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LA_Times

Editorial policy
For most of its first 80 years, the Times had been known as an unabashedly conservative paper, reflecting the stance of Harrison Gray Otis. Under the Chandlers, however, the paper gradually adopted a more centrist tone.

For many years, the Times was unique among major American newspapers in that it refused to endorse any candidate for president. Its endorsement of Richard Nixon's reelection bid in 1972 caused a furor in the newsroom due to the Chandlers' longstanding relationship with Nixon.

<snip>
Controversies
The forcible relocation and internment of approximately 110,000 Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans to "War Relocation Camps" during World War II was enthusiastically supported by the Times, which wrote:<25>

"A viper is nonetheless a viper whenever the egg is hatched - so a Japanese American, born of Japanese parents - grows up to be a Japanese, not an American."

In 1988, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed a legislation that recognized the deportation and internment as "fundamentally unjust",<26> but the Times never apologized for its attitude towards Japanese Americans during World War II.

<snip>

Following the GOP's defeat in the 06 mid-term Elections, an Opinion piece published on November 19, 2006 by Joshua Muravchik, a leading neoconservative and a resident scholar at the conservative view American Enterprise Institute, titled BOMB IRAN shocked some readers, with its hawkish overtures in support of more unilateral action by the United States, this time against Iran.<29>

<snip>


Also in March 2007 the Times faced rumors that publisher David Hiller suggested and approved former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, with whom Hiller has close personal and business contacts, for a guest editorial position at the newspaper.<32> Rumsfeld was an influential Iraq war hawk in the George W. Bush administration. Rumsfeld also has strong ties to the Times' parent company, the Tribune Company, where he was a member of the board of directors.<32>
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[IndianaGreen]

51. When this Margie bitch was asked to donate for anti-Prop 8 groups

by the gay customers she invited to a meeting, she refused outright. Frak her!

[Zuiderelle]

52. Nope, the "venom" should be directed at everyone who supported Prop 8.

It's not like she was just an employee of the restaurant. She was the daughter of the owner. Actions/Consequences. Simple.

[GodlessBiker]

56. She has caused the loss of jobs at her restaurant. She reaped what her $100 donation sewed.

The very intent of her $100 was to turn many, many lives into turmoil.

[mondo joe]

57. To the contrary: Reprisals must be dramatic and unpredictable, so as to cause

maximum fear of the same.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

61. so we should keep giving money to organizations who oppress us? glad we are not as stupid as you

seem to be

[OneBlueSky]

69. name calling doesn't do a thing to advance your argument . . .

let's just say we have a difference of opinion and leave it at that . . .

[La Lioness Priyanka]

70. what really doesnt do us any favors is to patronize organizations that vote against us. or people.nt

[racaulk]

73. We're talking about a small business here.

Not only was Christoffersen a manager at El Coyote, but she is also the daughter of the owner. Had she not made a donation to support Prop 8, she likely would have inherited the restaurant upon her mother's death. She has worked there for years serving tables and filling up water glasses, being very visible to El Coyote's loyal customer base. Her customers know that the is the owner's daughter, and I bet that a great number of them know her on a first-name basis.

As such, for all of these reasons, in the eyes of her customers she *is* El Coyote. By being the visible face of that restaurant all of these years, she has come to personify that restaurant to those that frequent it. In the face of this, the difference between a political donation made by her as a private citizen or as the manager at El Coyote is virtually nil.

Therefore, the context of this boycott is entirely appropriate.

I agree that we should be directing our attentions to the Mormon Church, but when that church's supporters go out of their way to rescind rights granted to fellow citizens, then they rightly become targets as well. There is nothing wrong with that.

[Toasterlad]

74. She Seems to Care a Lot More About HER Rights Than Her Business.

She had a chance to make things alright. A bunch of gay activists agreed to meet with her (which is more than I'd be willing to do) and gave her the opportunity to make a counter-donation to save her livelyhood. She refused.

SHE PUT HER BUSINESS ON THE LINE FOR HER NUTTY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.

She catered to gay people for YEARS. She pretended to be on their side. She pretended to LOVE them. And she donated money to remove a human right from them. And then refused to make amends.

She deserves EVERY BIT of what she gets.

And as a former waiter, I can assure you that waitering jobs are NOT that difficult to come by, especially in high-turnover LA. I'm not worried about her staff at all. They are much better off working elsewhere.

[davidinalameda]

58. the smallest donation was still a donation for bigotry

I don't feel sorry for anyone who's had their bigotry exposed

[SemiCharmedQuark]

65. And the true victims of the Bus Boycotts were the bus drivers and the bus companies

Whose businesses suffered when that horrible rabble rouser Rosa Parks persecuted them. It was just a difference of opinion! Right. :eyes:

[sui generis]

66. we don't need to be loved and cared for

we are fucking grown ups. We need to be left alone to live our own lives as we see fit, without people "loving us" to fucking death.

It's that tiny detail they always miss: stop treating us like your retarded little brother or sister, dumbfucks.

[LeftHander]

68. No sympathy....none what so ever.

Last night two haters threw a chunk of cement through the front window of my favorite bar.

When I arrived at 11:30 to watch the packer game the window was being replaced by the owner.

Apparently two men decided to remove a piece of cement form the entry of the bar and throw it through the window. The first attempt the glass did not break and two patrons went out and both were assaulted.

the cement crashed through the glass and destroyed the neon bar sign in the window.


I don't feel one bit of sadness for the woman who owns El Coyote.

Attitudes of segregating one group results in in violence elsewhere.

Ever since Wisconsin banned gay marriage and any thing similar the number of hate crimes on gay people has been on the increase.

We had one man shot in the head outside a nite club. Another friend of mine was beaten on Pride weekend.

I am sick of hearing about people who "have lots of gay friends" and then turn around and say they define marriage between one man and one woman...what hell kind of friend is that?

Screw her and her goddamn restaurant. That $100 came from the pockets of gay people who patronized her establishment.

Now that the community knows she really isn't an ally of gay people, why would gay person want to spend any money there?

[Amimnoch]

71. One really nice thing that has come of all of this....

Is being able to use direct quotes from all of this.

Democraticunderground is sort of a 2nd home, but I browse quite a few different chatboards, many of them are political with mixed crowds of both progressive and conservative, and everything in between.

After the backlash on Prop 8, it was very enjoyable seeing all of the conservatives whining and complaining about our boycotts, many of them the EXACT same posters from the past that championed the boycott of the Dixie chicks, and reveled in their falling ticket sales, and concert protests. I must say i've gotten no small bit of smug satisfaction in quoting their past arguments that these kinds of boycotts aren't only legal, but downright AMERICAN! ROFLMAO.

[ArbustoBuster]

72. She can and should suck it up and get over herself.

She voted to take rights away from fellow human beings. I don't give a damn if the Magic Spectacles and Space Jesus* told her to do it. Her religious beliefs don't give her the power to take away another person's human rights.

If she had given $100 to outlaw marriages between black and white people, no one would be writing a newspaper column that was anything other than a call for her business to be boycotted into oblivion.

While she has every right in the world to believe whatever she wants, and to promote those beliefs, she also has the responsibility to accept when her actions bring public disapproval down upon her. I don't want to hear her whine in the newspaper, and frankly I think the paper has done itself a disservice by giving this bigot a platform on which to whine about how people don't love her any more because she knowingly outed herself as a bigot.

* Mormons really believe this, to misquote South Park.

[Jamastiene]

75. Actions have consequences.

She might as well have literally slapped gay people, who had supported her business for years, in the face with that donation. Her donation had that same effect. I have :nopity: for her.

[freestyle]

76. When she sent money to attack people's families, she invited the backlash.

Voting for discriminatory initiatives is certainly bad enough, but contributing money (which is required to be public by campaign finance laws) raises things to another level. If you are willing to publicly support taking away rights, or publicy support preserving them for that matter, you should be prepared for the consequences. I wonder if anyone has asked this woman, and other Yes donors, how they would feel about someone who donated money to invalidate their marriage. I don't think they would be filled with goodwill.