The Denver Post
March 25, 1993, pg 1C

Bureau: Protest hurts wrong people

By Michelle Mahoney, Business Writer

The Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau is putting the final touches on a 
new video that addresses the "human" cost of Amendment 2-related boycotts on 
Denver's tourism and hospitality industries.

In a 6- to 8-minute, documentary-style videotape being produced by former 
KUSA-TV anchorwoman Linda (Benzel) Berger, the Bureau hopes to show that 
boycotts are an unfocused form of protest that hurts many of the very people 
already hit by the passage last November of Amendment 2, said Bureau spokesman 
Rich Grant.

"The video shows the emotional impact of a boycott by taking away the 
statistics," Grant said.  "It's not just a $3 million loss for the city, it's 
the actual people whose jobs may be lost by a boycott.  We're trying to show 
that a boycott is really a hurtful weapon that's not very well-directed and 
studies are showing it's not changing opinions."

The Bureau--which already has tallied $35 million in lost business for Denver 
because of 24 conventions and business groups that have pulled their previously 
booked meetings from the city in reaction to Amendment 2--will send the 
videotapes to groups who may be teetering on the brink of canceling their 
events in Denver, Grant said.

The Bureau has offered to fly a representative to discuss Amendment 2 with 
interested business groups who have concerns, but there have been no takers on 
the offer, Grant said.

The video contains interviews of people from Mayor Wellington Webb to the 
maids, doormen and laundryworkers at downtown Denver hotels, Berger said.

"The video will put a human face on the people who are working on different 
proposals to respond to Amendment 2 but also are very dependent on the tourism 
industry in Colorado to make a living," Berger said.

"This isn't an advocacy piece against Amend,emt 2 other than saying that a 
boycott is hurting the wrong people," Berger said.

Currently, the Convention and Visitors Bureau mails a packet of printed 
materials explaining Amendment 2, and that the law has yet to go into effect 
because a Denver district court has stayed its implementation.

Funding for the $8,500 video comes from private membership funds.