| San Diego 2009 Lodging |
|---|
Caucus members wishing to stay @ gay owned and operated accommodations may want to consider:
Park Manor Suites
525 Spruce St
SD, CA
Rates are currently as low as $119 weekdays, $149 for the holiday weekend and this hotel will sell out.
For VIP treatment, call or email Ed Delehanty, for reservations at ed@parkmanorsuites.com or
800.874.2649 and just say you are with the caucus! Visit www.parkmanorsuites.com for details on this
suites-only hotel overlooking Balboa park!
Another gay owned and operated option is:
Hillcrest Inn Hotel
www.hillcrestinn.net
With weekly rates from $295 including free wifi
Interested in sharing a room? Email info@lbgtpa.org to be connect with others who are looking for same.
AAPA Conference Hotel Funds Initiative to Discriminate
Over the last few weeks, the Caucus leadership has been made
aware of a situation regarding the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel,
one of the two co-headquarter hotels for the 2009 AAPA annual
conference. The owner of the Manchester Grand Hyatt, Doug
Manchester has donated $125,000 in support of Proposition 8 – a
California ballot measure to write discrimination into the state’s
constitution and deny same-sex couples fair access to civil marriage
contracts.
As customers, conference-goers have the ability to not patronize
a business that fuels injustice and discrimination. To quote Harvey
Fierstein ―prejudice tolerated is intolerance encouraged‖.
Our dollars are what allows injustice to continue
and sends a message of tolerance of prejudice.
Although the LGBT PA Caucus does not have
any meetings scheduled in the Manchester Grand
Hyatt, our members may need to attend other
meetings at this hotel. While the choice to enter
the Manchester Grand Hyatt is ultimately each of
ours to make, a boycott of the Manchester Grand
Hyatt (i.e. do not eat, meet or sleep at the Manchester) is certainly
consistent with the Mission, Vision and Values of the
LGBT PA Caucus and the AAPA policies on nondiscrimination
and civil rights for all.
The LBGT PA Caucus opposes spending AAPA member dollars
where vendors exhibit a conflict of interest with AAPA policy.
AAPA has been urged to withdraw patronage from the Manchester
Grand Hyatt; however the AAPA cites significant logistical
hurdles which prevent consideration of a withdrawal. AAPA
members and constituent groups will be given the opportunity to
make an informed decision on an individual basis. AAPA has
agreed to notify members and constituent groups of the inconsistency
between the hotel owner’s sizable financial support for a
discriminatory initiative and AAPA’s policies on civil rights and
nondiscrimination, as well as the availability of alternative hotels.
Conference housing registration opens on December 1 at
www.aapa.org, and constituent organization meeting space registration
is already open. Anyone who chooses not to meet or
sleep at the Manchester Grand Hyatt can use the registration procedures
that AAPA has in place to register their meetings at the
other co-headquarter hotel, and choose from among many other
hotel choices for accommodations.
For the last four years, the Global Hyatt Corporation has received
a perfect score of 100% from the Human Rights Campaign’s
Corporate Equality Index (CEI) and Buyers Guide. It would
have been impossible to know the owner of this particular Hyatt
would take an action that is so inconsistent with the Hyatt’s corporate
policies. In situations like this, the LGBT PA Caucus
supports facilitating informed decisions on an individual member
basis and thank the AAPA for their responsiveness to our short
term concerns—to inform AAPA members and
respond to each individual conference-goers decision
whether or not to patronize this hotel. We
look to AAPA staff to identify long term solutions
that achieve due diligence in helping prevent
member dollars from being spent on bigticket
items from vendors that represent conflicts
with AAPA policies.
Finally, many Caucus members from outside of California may
not be familiar with Proposition 8 and the importance of this
California initiative on equality and fairness in civil rights, and
its impact nationally. As you prepare to head to San Diego for
the annual AAPA meeting, you might want to learn more about
the issues involved. Here are links to the official California ballot
guide and well as three news stories:
Wall Street Journal August 27, 2008
San Francisco Chronicle October 6, 2008
San Diego Union-Tribune October 7, 2008
note: In light of the narrow margin of Prop 8’s passage, there’s
been heightened interest in addressing barriers to equal rights for
same-sex couples. Email caucus08-09@earthlink.net if you’d like to
know more.