Readers React: Better than George Clooney’s boycott: LGBTQ people should flock to the Beverly Hills Hotel

To the editor: While I applaud George Clooney and his honorable intention in calling for a boycott of luxury hotels in Southern California owned by the homicidally anti-gay sultan of Brunei, I think a boycott is a little old fashioned and ineffectual.

This is 2019, and the best way to fix the problem is through love and social media.

Gay people should head to the Beverly Hills Hotel en masse, booking every available room and turning the restaurants and bars into the hottest gay destinations in town. Post photos on Twitter and Instagram of women kissing women, men kissing men and same- sex couples generally enjoying themselves at the hotel.

When the people of Brunei see that these images of out and proud gay people loving each other in their ruler’s hotel are being beamed all over the planet, the sultan may be forced to sell the place because he has no way to stop the party in this free country.

Michael Hynes, Northridge

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To the editor: Clooney’s effort to bring attention to the sultan of Brunei’s strict enforcement of sharia against homosexuals and adulterers in his country is a thoughtful attempt to make others aware that their monies are going to support such actions given that the sultan owns the Beverley Hills Hotel and other establishments around the world.

That Clooney is a celebrity only allows his influence, appreciated or not, to convey this issue to the masses.

Bill Maher criticized the boycott by saying that because Saudi Arabia is also a country that uses cruel laws against its people, Clooney’s activism is merely “tokenism.” It would be better, Maher said, to stop driving and using their oil.

This is a poor analogy. Cars are for transportation, and everyone needs to get from Point A to Point B. Not driving isn’t the same as deciding where to sleep when traveling.

Chris White, Reseda

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