The El Coyote
Mexican café has been a staple of the Los
Angeles restaurant scene for seven decades. Not too far
from gay ground zero West Hollywood, the kitschy decor
and cheap margaritas have been drawing customers for
decades, particularly members of the LGBT community,
who flock to the restaurant’s unofficial gay
Thursdays for drinks and food.
But on Wednesday
morning it wasn’t about enchilada plate specials. El
Coyote opened its doors early to host about 70 opponents of
Proposition 8, many of whom had been longtime
customers. Marjorie Christoffersen -- a manager,
regular fixture at the restaurant, and the niece of
the original owner -- was revealed by bloggers and a
local food website to be a $100 donor to the Yes on 8
campaign.
After getting
hundreds of angry e-mails and phone calls, El Coyote staff
invited customers to a free lunch with Christoffersen to
explain her position. In the restaurant's back dining
room, a visibly shaken and tearful Christoffersen
trembled as she read from a prepared statement.
“I’m sick at heart if I offended anyone in the
gay community,” Christoffersen said as family
members flanked her. She pleaded with the crowd not to
boycott the restaurant, telling them the only people to get
hurt are the families of the El Coyote’s 89
employees. “This was a personal
donation,” she said, “not the El
Coyote’s.
“It
saddens me that my faith may keep you away from the El
Coyote,” she added.
But the press
conference quickly went south when people in the crowd
began asking questions. A man identifying himself as an
ex-member of the Mormon Church asked if Marjorie was
willing to donate to No on 8.
She started
crying before saying... "I will not."
Chaos ensued, the
crowd erupted -- many of them calling for a full on
boycott of the restaurant.
Christoffersen
and the employees of El Coyote are in the cross hairs of
the next phase of the Prop. 8 protests. Will LGBTs punish
businesses that espoused support for the passage of
the marriage ban?
One of the
restaurant’s managers, identifying himself as Bill,
said he was upset by the reaction and the potential
loss of loyal customers, but noted that so far
business had “not at all” suffered since the
news broke of Christoffersen’s donation. But
Bill explained that the restaurant was making a
donation to Lambda Legal and another LGBT-related charity,
in support of what is expected to be a lengthy court
battle over Prop. 8.
The debate on
what to do continued after Christoffersen finished her
remarks. A brief question-and-answer period deteriorated
into a shouting match between some of the Prop. 8
opponents and Christoffersen. Her family then hustled
her out of the restaurant.
One regular
customer suggested Christoffersen didn’t understand
what she had done. “We have to be
compassionate,” he said.
Another Prop. 8
opponent disagreed, saying Christoffersen “is not
taking any responsibility for how anyone
feels.”