El Coyote Boycott - A different perspective

[WillParkinson]

Taken from: http://laist.com/2008/11/12/el_coyote_restaurant_prop_8_lunch_h.php

let me explain something to all the numbskulls who keep accusing prop 8 opponents of being mean and intolerant and so forth, and I'll try to use small words so you won't get confused:

* I own a business that makes a lot of money from people who like green couches

* I on the other hand secretly think green couches are evil and kind of gross. and people who sit in them are hellbound.

* But I'm perfectly happy to take this money and pretend I'm their friend because, you know, as long as I don't have to think about their icky, disgusting couches, I'm cool.

* I could simply keep my goddamned pie hole shut and stay out of politics. Or, I could limit my political participation to simply voting. Which, as we all know, is secret ballot anyway.

* But instead I donate 100 bucks to the drive to make green couches illegal, and penalize people who like to sit in green couches.Oh, and instead of making an anonymous donation, I use my name presumably because it's a tax write off when you do so. Instantly, my name is in the public record.

* Suddenly, my green couch sitting patrons are fracking pissed the hell off.

* So instead of acknowledging my views and choices to them, like a goddamned grownup, and accepting that I'm going to lose their business and endure some bad PR, or, Instead of apologizing sincerely and trying to make it up to them, I split the difference between the two and act like the world's biggest whiny little baby. Which consists mostly of A) blaming it on my church, B) claiming I love my faith and won't apologize for it!, C) but insisting that I was doing my church's bidding, D) using the jobs of my employees as a human shield, and E) crying like a little whiny baby.

Sure it's only 100 bucks. But that doesn't mean the owner isn't acting like a pathetic little crybaby. She's a grownup. She knows what the deal is and she made a choice. But now she wants to have it both ways.

Fuck her and her restaurant's shitty food. Maybe next time she'll figure out that heading into a recession might not be the best time to piss off your patrons.

[hobbit709]

1. I have no sympathy for that idiot.

[Skittles]

2. I'm glad she got outed

no pun intended :7

[terrya]

3. Very well put. I don't have one particle of sympathy for that idiot owner.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. I'll say it again

This woman destroyed the only thing she has to sell, the reputation and atmosphere of her room. The food is and always was third rate in a city of excellent Mexican food. She should have known that. Margaritas (forbidden by her chruch) and the mood were all they lived by. Now no one is comfortable there. And that can not be remade. Who will want to buy the business, even, now that the reputation is sullied? All they were was reputation and mood. She killed both assests with one donation, it was her choice and she made it.

[bluedawg12]

5. Well said! She's the one who destroyed their good name.

[yardwork]

10. But but but aren't all the happy Yes on Prop 8 supporters rallying to her restaurant?

Apparently the Yes on Prop 8 supporters are a huge huge huge majority in California so why aren't they helping out?

[The Doctor.]

14. I think they're afraid of the cooties from the former patrons.

I mean, c'mon! There were 'those' kind of people there before... goodness knows they don't want to catch the 'gay'.

:)

[K8-EEE]

13. It's true the food at El Cayote SUCKS!!!

The margs and the atmosphere were everything....but now there's a black cloud over it, I have no desire to go there. Ugh, the mushy, bland tostada I got there once with the rubbery chicken bits and pickle-relish in the sauce. Del Taco is better!

[racaulk]

6. K&R

Thank you for sharing this article. I couldn't have said it better myself.

:applause:

[bluedawg12]

7. I just realized! She doesn't want gay business at all -

she wants to be a martyr and and get rw repig business.

And her "quitting" phoney! The family will place her back on the job when business picks up from all of the California repigs.

[Irishonly]

8. I have no sympathy for her and people like her

For every action there is a reaction. It's just the way the world is. I am sick and tired of people complaining about the boycotting of businesses by gays and other sane people. Sane people knew prop 8 was a civil rights issue and having a constitution limit rights of any group of people is just plain evil.

These same bigots thought it was perfectly fine for a threatened boycott of Dunkin Donuts because Rachael Ray wore a scarf they thought looked Muslim. They write letters to blackmail businesses that have a nondiscrimination policy and think they are wonderful for doing so.

These are the same bigots that told sane people to get over it when the SCOTUS anointed a president when we knew it was wrong. These same bigots would tell us to ignore the ruling of the supreme court of CA because they didn't like it. Now we are told that the voting counts not the supreme court and it doesn't matter the matter should have never been on the ballot in the first place.

These bigots had no problem airing commercials filled with lies to get what they wanted nor did they have a problem with the wording. I know a few people that thought a yes vote meant approval for gay marriage-obviously they don't follow politics.

As a sane person, I boycott with you. I am checking the HRC's list of businesses before I purchase now. I thank this board for opening my eyes. I've never walked in your shoes and can't pretend to understand all of your frustrations but I can stand with you.

[yardwork]

11. Thank you! Wonderful post.

[yardwork]

9. Do you serve liquor to your green couch patrons even though your church says it's a sin?

Does your church's Bible mention hypocrisy? Would you be crying into the beer your green-couch store sells if it weren't against your religion to drink the beer? Does it make a difference if all the profits to your business come from the liquor and not the green couches, which have a very low margin?

[SacredCow]

12. I've not really kept up with this El Coyote business....

it DOES sound as if she is trying to have the best of both worlds- in the good graces with her church, AND her largely-gay (from what I hear- is this really true?) clientele. And the surest way to piss EVERYBODY off is try to please EVERYBODY (sheesh, don't I know THAT)... Bottom line: when your livelihood is your service-industry business, I can't fathom the depths of stupidity she was sinking in to make the decision to make a public donation.

Me? Were I living in that area, I'd never set foot in said establishment again and possibly cross the street to avoid walking in front of the place. Call it a boycott if you must, but I consider it more of a decision of my consciousness.

Though I don't feel particularly (or even at all) sorry for her and her predicament, I do question the net value of making this woman the poster-child scapegoat and demonizing her to the extent I'm seeing- there are WAY bigger fish out there. If that restaurant really served so many GLBT and GLBT-friendly patrons, then it won't be around much longer anyway (unless the fundies organize a bail out for her).

[Zuiderelle]

15. "using the jobs of my employees as a human shield" how true

That's exactly what she did.