Gays Who Hosted Ted Cruz Face Blowback and Boycotts

Cruz and a traitor

Two gay New York City hoteliers - Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner who seemingly like to view themselves as "A-listers" -  hosted a diner this past week for virulently anti-gay Senator Ted Cruz at their duplex on Central Park.  The pair have gone to great lengths to say it was not a fundraiser, yet most gays who put self-worth, truth and dignity above money see the event for what it was: the equivalent of 1930's Berlin Jews hosting a diner for Adolph Hitler.  Underscoring the idiocy of Weiderpass and Reisner, the next day Cruz introduced two bills: (i) a proposed Constitutional amendment to protect states who want to block gay marriage and (ii) a bill to protect "Christians" who want legal protection for fabricated "discrimination."  One commenter on the Facebook page established to urge a boycott of Weiderpass and Reisner's properties described the situation this way: "we can't understand the benefit of welcoming such aggressively hateful people to a "fireside chat"...Gee Mrs. Lincoln let's have coffee and chat about how much you enjoyed the play. It just doesn't make any sense."  Another said "what douche bags."  Supporting such an enemy doesn't make sense.  Politico looks at the growing blowback.  Here are highlights:

Two gay businessmen who held a reception for Sen. Ted Cruz continued to face blowback Friday as a nonprofit canceled an event at one of their nightclubs.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, an AIDS fundraising nonprofit prominent in the New York City theater community, announced it would be canceling its fundraiser scheduled for next month at 42West, a nightclub owned by Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner. Weiderpass and Reisner hosted Cruz, the Texas senator and presidential candidate — and vocal opponent of same-sex marriage — at their duplex apartment earlier this week for a “fireside chat” and dinner.

“We cannot in good conscience hold an event at a venue whose owners have alienated our community,” Broadway Cares executive director Tom Viola wrote in a statement on Friday.

“It is a rare instance where the actions of a donor negatively impacts us as an organization and potentially jeopardizes our relationship with others whose support is integral to our success,” Viola added. “But when it does occur, in a way that’s blatantly against all we stand and work for, we can’t pretend it doesn’t come with consequences. Silence is not a neutral position. It is complicit.”

Weiderpass and Reisner have faced criticism from the gay community since a New York Times report detailing the meeting with Cruz. A Facebook page urging supporters to boycott two establishments owned by Reisner — including a New York City hotel co-owned with Weiderpass aimed at serving gay customers — had more than 4,700 subscribers as of Friday evening.

Earlier this year, Reisner hosted a fundraiser for Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who also opposes same-sex marriage.

In the past, the senator has called himself a supporter of traditional marriage, harshly criticized the Supreme Court for effectively allowing same-sex marriage to move forward in five states and said in a 2011 email that “engaging in homosexual conduct is a choice.”

Weiderpass and Reisner live in a gay friendly state and apparently believe that they have enough wealth so as to avoid the toxic consequences of what Cruz seeks to do to gays.  Most of us are not in that position - especially those of us living in anti-gay red states - and their betrayal deserves to carry a strong negative consequences.