Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Boycott the Olympics? Russian Vodka? NBC? Maybe -- Here Are 5 Other Ripe Targets

Russia's horrific anti-gay crackdown is finally getting attention. That's the great thing about the boycotts that have been launched in recent days. Moscow journalist Masha Gessen, a lesbian and a mother, told me in an interview about reports that Vladimir Putin may push for a law in the fall to remove adoptive and biological children from the homes of gay parents (having passed the ban on homosexual "propaganda" earlier this year), an absolutely barbaric reality if it comes to pass. There's been little discussion of this or of other Russian anti-gay brutality in the American media. 

So, boycotts are a way to get attention in an American media that values corporate and other interests over gay lives overseas. Some have called for the U.S. to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Whatever you think of the idea -- and there's certainly well-reasoned opposition -- it's put the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the defensive and has NBC fielding criticism by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) of its contract with the IOC and its coverage of Russia's anti-gay policies.

Similarly, a boycott of Stolichnaya Vodka spearheaded by Dan Savage, Queer Nation, Cleve Jones and others has been brilliant at creating something to rally around, with gay bars worldwide dumping Russian vodka. (Queer Nation took it further today, launching a boycott, with the support of a number of Russian LGBT activists, of all things Russian.) Critics are skeptical that Russian companies can speak out in Putin's authoritarian Russia the way American corporations can critique their own government or even the Russian government, but it's undeniable that the vodka boycott has brought global media attention to the issue.

So, all good. But for the long term it will be necessary to target powerful entities right here in the U.S. who are beholden to American consumers and voters, are vulnerable on the issue and could put pressure on both the U.S. and Russian governments. Here are five:

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