LGBT Activists Protest Beverly Hills Hotel

Gay rights activists demonstrated Friday in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel, displaying a banner on Sunset Boulevard that read, "This hotel is owned by homophobes."

A group called Dump The Beverly Hills Hotel also organized a boycott that was announced Wednesday, linking the hotel’s owner to "state-sponsored homophobia."

"The gay community in Los Angeles supported by Unite Here has announced that they're breaking up with the Beverly Hills Hotel because the owner is from the nation of Brunei, which has homophobic laws," said protest organizer Hal Weiss. "We think that it's the height of hypcocrisy that a hotel would operate in such a progressive, gay-friendly city and yet behind them is this extremely backwards and homophobic state."

Pastor Scott Imler from Crescent Heights Church in West Hollywood also attended the protest.

"We're here today to speak out about hypocrisy of the ownership of this hotel where alcohol is illegal in Brunei," Imler said. "The ownership of this hotel is willing to come here and sell alcohol to gay and lesbian people while denying them even the right to their love and relationships in their own country."

Beverly Hills Hotel spokeswoman Jenna Duran said "we want people to know over the past 100 years our doors have always been open to this diverse world, and we invite everyone to come and experieince our hospitality."

Activists released a video that announced a "breakup" with the hotel, owned by the Sultan of Brunei and known for hosting A-list Hollywood types and a range of celebrities. In Brunei, same-sex relationships are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The video, which is posted above, is accompanied by a public letter that calls on supporters to neither "eat, meet or sleep" at the hotel.