NOM: We're Super-Boycotting Starbucks

"The pro-same-sex marriage corporate behemoth Starbucks has taken its ideologically-driven LGBT agenda to a new level with a new ad featuring two reality TV star drag queens. The ad feature Bianca Del Rio and Adore Delano, two drag queens from a reality TV show on the LGBT network, OUTtv. Thus Starbucks continues to serve up a healthy dose of ideology added in with the cream and sugar in its cups of coffee. It's as good a reason as ever to Dump Starbucks if you haven't made the commitment to do so already." - From an unsigned post on NOM's blog. The post links to their boycott page, which after three years shows a measly 70K signatures, which is about as many Starbucks customers served every single day just in the company's hometown of Seattle. (Each Starbucks serves about 500 customers a day and there are currently about 140 stores in Seattle.)

PBR Sold To Russian Company

Iconic Milwaukee-based blue collar and hipster favorite Pabst Blue Ribbon has been sold for $700M to a company based in Russia. 

The buyer is Oasis Beverages, a Russian brewer and beverages distributor. Backing Oasis is TSG Consumer Partners, an American private equity firm focused on consumer goods, which will take a minority stake. “Pabst Blue Ribbon is the quintessential American brand – it represents individualism, egalitarianism and freedom of expression – all the things that make this country great,” Eugene Kashper, the chairman of Oasis Beverages, said in a statement. Pabst has been owned by Dean Metropoulos, the consumer products magnate who recently took over the Twinkie line of products from Hostess Brands with private equity firm Apollo. Mr. Metropoulos acquired Pabst in 2010 for about $250 million, and the sale to Oasis and TSG will be a healthy return on his investment.

Pabst Brewing was founded 170 years ago. Included in the sale are its brands Lone Star, Stroh's, Old Milwaukee, Schlitz, and Colt 45.

Principal bans Chick-fil-A from Calif. high school over gay marriage stance

The principal at a Southern California high school has barred a booster club from selling Chick-fil-A sandwiches on campus because of the chain’s position on same-sex marriage.

KCAL-TV reports that Ventura High School Principal Val Wyatt would not allow the football booster club to not sell Chick-fil-A sandwiches at Wednesday’s back-to-school night because the restaurant’s beliefs might offend some students and their parents.

The booster club expected to raise about $1,600 for the football team when the local Chick-fil-A restaurant volunteered to donate 200 meals.

“With their political stance on gay rights and because the students of Ventura High School and their parents would be at the event, I didn’t want them on campus,” Wyatt said.

District Superintendent Trudy Tuttle Arriaga said Ventura schools “value inclusivity and diversity on our campus and all of our events and activities are going to adhere to our mission.”

KCAL-TV reports:

Since 2003, the WinShape Foundation, Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm, has donated over $5 million to several anti-gay groups, including Eagle Forum, Focus on the Family, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Family Research Council, Exodus International (once the world’s largest promoter of “ex-gay” therapy) and the Marriage & Family Legacy Fund.Approximately $2 million was given in 2009 and almost the same amount in 2010.

In 2012, Chick-fil-A Chairman, Dan Cathy, publicly denounced same-sex marriage, telling the the Baptist Press that the company was “guilty as charged” for backing “the biblical definition of a family.”

The Ventura Chick-fil-A has previously donated $21,000 to Ventura schools.

Canadian Foreign Minister Denounces 'Gay Propaganda' Law In Letter To Russia

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird recently mentioned his country's opposition to Russia's "gay propaganda" law in a letter to Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Federation's Minister of Foreign Affairs. Baird wrote: 

“In the lead-up to Sochi, Canada remains concerned about the legislation passed in June 2013 that places a ban on the ‘propagandizing of non-traditional sexual relations among minors.'"

“We encourage the Russian Federation to extend to all of its citizens – as well as foreign visitors – full human rights protections, including freedom from violence, harassment or discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

Baird also wrote that Canada would appreciate Russia's cooperation in allowing its consulate quick and consistent "access any Canadian citizen, should the need arise.”

In early August, Baird spoke against Russia's law and urged the International Olympic Committee to do more to ensure the safety of everyone attending the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Canada's city of Vancouver has taken an outspoken role in criticizing Russia's anti-gay law in the run-up to the winter games. Two Canadian winter Olympians marched in protest of the law at Vancouver Pride and the city's openly gay deputy mayor visited Sochi and petitioned the IOC to add an LGBT non-discrimination clause to its charter.

Meanwhile, the French, German and American presidents have all announced plans to skip the games, as has the European Union commissioner and the British Prime Minister (though he contends that his absence has nothing to do with protesting Russia's anti-gay law).

German president boycotts Sochi Winter Olympics

The German president has become the first major political figure to boycott the Sochi Winter Olympics in February. According to German weekly Der Spiegel, Joachim Gauck last week told the Kremlin of his decision, which is understood to be a response to the Russian government's violations of human rights and harassment of the opposition.

Gauck, a former Lutheran pastor who played a key part in the East German protest movement before the fall of the Berlin Wall, has declined any official visits to Russia since coming to office in March 2012 and repeatedly criticised the country's "deficit of rule of law" and "air of imperialism".

In June, a scheduled meeting between Gauck and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was cancelled – supposedly because of clashing schedules. Gauck visited the Olympics and the Paralympics in London last summer.

The head of the Russian parliament's foreign delegation on Sunday criticised Gauck's decision. Alexey Pushkov tweeted: "The German president Gauck has not criticised the killing of children and women in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But he is so critical of Russia that he doesn't even want to travel to Sochi."

The boycott is the first of the Games by a major political figure. So far, it has mainly been artists and activists such as Stephen Fry, Harvey Fierstein and Lady Gaga who have called for a boycott of the Sochi Games in reaction to a new Russian law that criminalises gay "propaganda".

In an open letter in June to the British prime minister and the IOC, Fry said "an absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 in Sochi is simply essential". David Cameron has ruled out a boycott, arguing that anti-gay prejudice would be better tackled by presence rather than absence.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has since echoed Cameron's stance, pointing to the Eurovision song contest in Azerbaijan as proof that public attention could do more to change attitudes than boycotts.

In July, US senator Lindsey Graham also called for a US boycott of the Gamesin July, though his motives had been slightly different: the South Carolina Republican said Russia needed to be rebuked for offering asylum to Edward Snowden.

While Germany under chancellors Gerhard Schröder and Merkel has traditionally been keen to tread carefully in diplomatic exchanges with Russia, a standoff between Gauck and Putin has seemed only a matter of time.

Gauck, in his post-1989 role as special representative for Stasi archives, has come to represent a systematic investigation into the crimes of East Germany's surveillance state, while former KGB agent Putin has overseen the rehabilitation of secret service personnel during his time in power. In German political circles, it is no secret that there is little love lost between the two presidents.

On Sunday, Gauck's office confirmed he had declined to travel to Russia next February, but seemed to pull back from explicitly describing his decision as a boycott.

A spokeswoman said there was no fixed rule that the president had to visit the Olympics, and that president Horst Köhler did not visit the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

The German Union of Olympic Athletes said no visit by the president to Sochi had ever been planned in the first place. Gauck was, however, planning to take part in a welcoming party in Munich for returning German Olympians.

Famed Italian pasta maker Barilla: Gays can eat someone else’s pasta

Barilla is a famous name in Italian pasta.  And it seems they don’t have a taste for gays.

If you check your local supermarket here in the states, or in Europe, you’re bound to see Barilla’s products with the familiar red label.  They’re a big, worldwide brand.

Well, the Chairman of the privately-owned company, Guido Barilla, got himself into some hot water yesterday when he told an Italian radio show that Barilla is a company that “likes the traditional family.”  And therefore, you’re not going to see any gays in Barilla’s advertising.  And if gays don’t like it, “they can always go eat someone else’s pasta.”

Already are, stronzo.

Keith Olbermann on the “MasterCard Olympics of 2014″ and the “Master Race Olympics” of 1936

Keith Olbermann, as always, did a great job summing up the problem facing the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia this coming February, as Russia continues it growing crackdown on its gay and trans citizens.

Seriously, though, Keith really does a great job summarizing the problem the world, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and especially the Olympics corporate sponsors face with the upcoming Sochi Olympics.  It’s too bad we don’t see more of the political Keith Olbermann on TV any more – his commentaries really cannot be equaled.

As Olbermann notes, the IOC and the sponsors are now apparently very worried that their little gravy train – what he calls the “MasterCard Olympics” – might be in danger because of the mean gays comparing them to the “Master Race Olympics.”

And they should be.

 

LGBT Activists In Times Square Rally To ‘Dump Coke’ For Sponsoring Anti-Gay Olympics

Braving a thunderstorm and high humidity, LGBT activists are rallying in New York City’s Times Square right now to draw attention to their “Dump Coke” campaign. Coca-Cola is accused of sponsoring hate because the international conglomerate is sponsoring the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. President Vladimir Putin is waging a war on gays, and has signed a law essentially making any expression of homosexuality, even holding hands or kissing, illegal.

Holding signs that read “Coca-Cola sponsors Russian hate,” Homophobia tastes bad — dump Coke,” and “Coke: Don’t sponsor hate,” the activists were mobilized by Queer Nation and RUSA LGBT. A reported 75 to 100 protesters turned out, despite the weather.

“By sponsoring the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Coca-Cola is associating its brands with state-sanctioned gay-bashing,” Queer Nation co-founder Alan Klein said via a press release. “Coca-Cola is sacrificing the safety and security of Russian LGBT people for profit – a position that opposes fundamental Olympic principles, runs counter to the International Olympic Committee charter, and that will tarnish its global image for decades to come.”

“Sponsoring the Games gives legitimacy to the host nation and that is exactly what Coca-Cola did when it sponsored the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany. We hope that Coca-Cola does not ignore its own history and does the right thing by refusing to support another regime that targets groups for hatred.”

“Nations compete for the privilege of hosting the Games and Russia has squandered that privilege by targeting LGBT Russians for discrimination and violence,” RUSA LGBT founder and co-president Yelena Goltsman added. “With its sponsorship of the Games, Coca-Cola supports the Russian government’s LGBT discrimination.”

The groups are demanding Coke:

• Withdraw its sponsorship of the 2014 Winter Games in Russia.
• Release a statement in English and Russian that condemns workplace discrimination, harassment, and bullying directed at customers and employees based on gender identity and sexual orientation
• Publish and publicize its LGBT employment policies on its Russian website in Russian and on physical bulletin boards and websites at all Coca-Cola owned and operated facilities.
• Conduct periodic company-wide sensitivity trainings about its LGBT employment policies worldwide.
• Institute a long-range policy to widely distribute its LGBT employment policies in human resources documentation and internal communications at all owned and operated facilities worldwide.
• Require that all Coca-Cola bottlers, distributors and vendors implement LGBT employment policies as a condition of their contract with The Coca-Cola Company.

The activists’ posters are especially effective against the Times Square advertising by Coca-Cola.

Dan Savage Explains Why Stoli Is A Russian Vodka And Why The Russian Vodka Boycott Is Working

Dan Savage, Wednesday night appeared on Chris Hayes’ “All In” to rebut Hayes’ previous coverage of the Russian vodka boycott and to shed more light on what’s happening in Russia from historical terms. Vladimir Putin‘s war on gays has created a firestorm in the U.S. and other LGBT-friendly countries around the world, and is making the lead up to the 2014 Winter Olympics challenging for Russian leaders. But as Harvey Fierstein, Savage, and many others are trying to stress, the issue isn’t the Olympics, it’s the LGBT community in Russia that will be there whether or not, and before and after, the Olympics begin and end.

But Savage made clear — right from the words of the makers of Stolichnaya — why Stoli is a Russian vodka. And he also made clear, quoting Alexander Abad-Santos’s piece in The Atlantic, that “The Russian Vodka Boycott Is Working, Whether You Like It or Not.”

First, to all who claim Stoli is not a Russian vodka — and why it’s an appropriate target:

“The goal of the boycott is to target an iconic product and vodka is Russia’s most iconic product, to raise awareness around the world, which is what this vodka boycott called by activists in San Francisco and New York and Seattle has done,” Savage told Hayes.

“And what I really objected to in your coverage on Monday night is you said I called for a boycott of ‘Stoli, which is actually a Latvian vodka.’ Which is Stoli’s argument right now. They’re out there pushing that lie, and if I could read you something really briefly which is, Stolichnaya’s distributor in 2008 to Vanity Fair [said], ‘Stolichnaya as it is sold outside Russia is distilled in Russia and moved from Russia to Latvia where it’s put in bottles. There is nothing added, nothing taken away, no additions, no subtractions from the product that leaves Russia. Stolichnaya is the original authentic genuine Russian vodka brand made with genuine authentic Russia vodka from Russia.’ Period. That’s Stoli talking about Stoli, so it’s a legitimate target of a boycott.”

Savage also compared what’s happening in Russia now to pre-World War II Germany.

“We’re not comparing the situation right now in Russia to what went on — what happened to the Jews. What’s happening in Russia to LGBT people isn’t what happened to Jews in 1943, it’s what happened to them in 1933. People didn’t speak up at the volume they should have, and we’re speaking up now to try to prevent that catastrophe from unfolding.”

Watch:

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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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LGBT Group Calls For Boycott Of Russian Vodka In Response To Country's Anti-Gay Regime

Coming on the heels of the arrest of three Dutch tourists in Russia under the country's new gay 'propaganda' ban, Queer Nation has begun an organized boycott of Russian vodka over the country's virulently anti-gay record. 

From the statement:

In light of the Putin regime's attacks on the LGBT community, Queer Nation is calling for a worldwide boycott of Russian vodka.

Do not buy or drink Russian vodka: Brands include Russian Standard and Stolichnaya. Demand that bar owners do not buy or serve Russian vodka. Ask your favorite club promoters, DJs, and entertainers to insist that Russian brands are not served in the venues in which they perform.

It's time to target Russia. Dump Russian vodka!

The organization expects to have additional upcoming actions that the LGBT community and allies can take to send a message that anti-gay violence will never be tolerated. The announcement follows a similar call by Russian LGBT activists to boycott the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

[image by Gilbert Baker, the designer of the rainbow flag]