Posted on 03/28/2002 3:50:27 AM PST by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - Howard Johnson is "a name that makes travelers feel at home," according to the hotel chain's website. And that sentiment appears to have struck a chord with the entire St. Louis, Mo., BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Sadism and Masochism) community, which plans to hold its sixth annual 'Beat Me in St. Louis' conference at the HoJo hotel at St. Louis' Lambert International Airport next month.
The "educational pansexual event" is sponsored by St. Louis Leather and Lace (StL3), a group "dedicated to the free expression of alternative lifestyles and forms of loving," according to its website. "Pansexual," the site explains, "means that everyone is welcome ... singles, couples, poly's (polygamists), hets (heterosexuals), bi's (bisexuals), gays, TV's (transvestites), TG's (trans-genders), CD's (cross dressers) and everyone else."
Membership in StL3, however, "is offered only to those individuals who have shown a genuine commitment to the BDSM lifestyle and who will contribute positively to the group."
What's in store for the weekend of April 26-28?
According to StL3's 'Beat Me in St. Louis' FAQ page, "We expect to have demos, seminars, and workshops covering caning, flogging, single-tail whips and other hands-on demos and seminars suited for people who are relatively new to the lifestyle as well as for those with a great deal of experience."
'Families get special attention at Howard Johnson'
Despite Howard Johnson's attempt to attract families, the hotel's 4,500 square foot conference center will be the site of "Dungeon Parties," featuring medieval torture devices.
Hemant Patel, the hotel manager who gave the go-ahead for the event, said "a group called 'St. Louis Bash'" has reserved all 171 of the hotel's rooms and facilities for the event. "There's not a single room available to the public," he said, deeming the facilities "strictly private" for the weekend.
"They have private functions, that's all we know," Patel said. "They say they're a private function. We usually try not to interfere with a private function."
HoJo's guests are a top concern, according to Liz Ryan Sax, a media relations manager for Howard Johnson's parent company, Cendant Corporation. But Sax said Cendant doesn't own any of the Howard Johnson locations, it just franchises them.
She explained that when individual HoJo locations enter into a franchise agreement, there are "standards and stipulations" set by Cendant to which the hotels must adhere.
However, Sax said, "The way that we see it is that as long as they [Howard Johnson St. Louis Airport] are adhering to their local government ... they're the best judge of how their town should conduct business."
She added that Cendant gauges its franchises' business conduct by their adherence to local, state and federal laws. And from her standpoint, "the rights of these organizations are protected under the Constitution," specifically, "Freedom of Expression."
At HoJo's, 'Kids Stay Free'
HoJo's 'Family Plan' allows children under 18 to stay free at all locations when staying in the same room as an adult, but Bill Johnson, president of the American Decency Association, isn't buying into the hotel chain's kid-friendly sales pitch.
"They put all this propaganda out about how children are their staple, their centerpiece, and it just does not ring true," Johnson said.
"It's phony to me," he added. "They're doing whatever they can to make a dollar with little concern for principle, for standards, for healthy sexuality, for guarding the hearts and the minds of people of all ages, obviously."
Johnson believes Cendant Corporation and the management at the Howard Johnson in St. Louis need to "have a reality check."
That "reality check," Bill Johnson said, involves mobilizing Christians and conservatives to call and e-mail Cendant and the hotel hosting the event.
"They must receive many, many calls and many, many communications, that if they don't stop this, they will pay a price for this in the future," Bill Johnson said. "I'm talking about financially; not only this one little local chain, but the whole chain, the whole branch of Howard Johnson's needs to be truly sensitized at such a time as this."
Bill Johnson said he has patronized the hotel chain in the past, but will not stay at any of the hotel's franchises until they make "a 180-degree turn on their position for this upcoming event." He is demanding "a declarative statement that this will never happen again and an apology."
According to Bill Johnson, the Cendant Corporation is "so hypocritical, on the one hand saying 'children' and on the other hand 'bondage' and 'sado-masochism'.
"If we don't rise to the challenge of this moment," Johnson said, "little by little, other corporations or other hotel chains or so on and so forth, they too, will become careless."
E-mail a news tip to Michael Betsch.
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Well I'm big on depth, but what kind of an orgy? I mean...all this deviancy is sort of a turn-off...medieval dungeons and all--I know it's just me. I might come sometime when they have something that's not quite so...flamboyant...
....can you imagine after a convention? like this, what body fluids you could be exposed too?..........Yuk
I agree. Let them do what they want, as long as they don't bother me.
I agree. I don't agree with that lifestyle, but it's their hotel. They are booking the entire facility to these people, and as a business, that is their right to do so. Knowing that this group will be there that weekend (I'm sure it's been publicized locally), other people should avoid the place.
I live near Disney World, and when they have their "Gay Days" weekend, I avoid the place and advise others to as well (unless they REALLY want to).
I agree to a point. Minors can't give consent (they may THINK they can, but they can't) and it is our duty, in my opinion, as a society to protect them. Same thing with beastiality.... animals simply can not give consent! Yet adult taxpayers who want to give consent to be spanked, whipped, flogged, plugged or whatever in a controlled, negoiated and private surrounding is their business.
I'm sure HoJo doesn't mind being fully booked either.
Actually, that is the industry standard down here at the Gulf Coast beaches. I've seen how 'suburbia' leaves their vacation & convention beds/sofas/carpets/walls etc.
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