The Sultan of Brunei's stake in the ownership of the hotel drew controversy in April 2014 when he initiated the first phase of a three-phase plan to adapt Brunei's legal system to include aspects of Sharia law, implicating his approval of the persecution of homosexuals in the complex legal system there (a two-part system involving separate courts and legislation for Islamic and non-Islamic citizens). In protest, a United States national LGBT advocacy organization, the Gill Action Fund, canceled its reservation to hold a conference of major donors at the Beverly Hills Hotel and demanded a refund of its deposit. The hotel management responded by issuing a statement asserting that it does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Fashion designers Brian Atwood and Peter Som subsequently called for wider protests, urging the fashion industry to boycott all the hotels owned by the Dorchester Collection.