Aftermath of a donation

Re “Prop. 8 stance upends her life,” Column, Dec. 14

The passage of Proposition 8 has had a direct and immediate effect on my life choices and on the life choices of many flesh-and-blood Californians. Because of that, I have difficulty feeling sympathy for Margie Christoffersen or any others who have been called out for their monetary contributions supporting the same-sex marriage ban. I am pleased that they are being held responsible for their political actions.

Christoffersen passed judgment on -- and took actions to place limits on -- the lives of her employees and customers. And for the first time, those who were judged let her know how they felt about it.

Christoffersen has learned too late that Proposition 8 was not an abstract idea. It was real. Maybe we would all make more responsible and thoughtful decisions if we knew that those affected might show up at our doorstep to confront us for it.

Alexander Bristol

Reseda

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It took more than a month, but after all the stories about how the opponents of Proposition 8 were dealing with the “tragic defeat” at the polls, Steve Lopez has fairly presented the other side -- how those same opponents have practiced discriminatory intolerance, targeting those who committed “the crime of voting their conscience.”

When can we expect the gay and lesbian communities to call for a boycott of The Times?

Steven J. Dugan

Upland

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Though I was opposed to the mean-spirited Proposition 8, I strongly believe citizens should be allowed to contribute to a variety of causes without harassment.

After reading Lopez’s column, my husband and I knew exactly where we were headed for Sunday dinner. El Coyote remains the charming, delicious and uniquely L.A. restaurant that I always loved as a child. We shall return often.

Aviva Monosson

Los Angeles

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Thanks to Lopez for pointing out another Mormon business that I and my family can boycott: El Coyote. Imagine the hypocrisy of hiring gays, serving gay couples while greeting them cheerily, and then denying them the same rights that you grant yourself. Christoffersen did all of the above and then says, “I love them like everybody else,” when referring to gays.

I will never eat at her 92-year-old mother’s restaurant. My extended family will never eat there. I will recommend that tourists eat somewhere else; I’ll buy.

If my great-great grandchildren eat at El Coyote years after I am dead, a new clause in the will will disown them and strip them of all monies and possessions that derive from their family’s inheritance at the time of my passing.

If Christoffersen wants to be treated as if her bigotry is invisible, perhaps she should open a restaurant in Utah. No one hates her. I just have no use for her two-faced self-righteousness.

Mike Kelly

Huntington Beach

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Would Lopez be as quick to present Christoffersen as a deer caught in the headlights, merely following the edicts of her church and exercising her right of free speech, if she had donated $100 in an effort to forcibly divorce him from his spouse?

Michael Grizzi

Los Angeles