Russia faces vodka boycott in backlash against anti-gay law

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Russia faces vodka boycott in backlash against anti-gay law

Alec Luhn in Moscow
The Guardian, Friday 26 July 2013 18.56 BST

There's nothing more Russian than vodka, so when gay and lesbian activists decided to protest against the country's persecution of homosexuals it made sense to target its most famous drink.

The US sex writer Dan Savage, famous for his online campaign against the homophobic senator Rick Santorum, called for a vodka boycott to draw attention to new laws allowing police officers to arrest tourists and foreign nationals they suspect of being homosexual or "pro-gay".

"To show our solidarity with Russian queers and their allies and to help to draw international attention to the persecution of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans people and straight allies in Vladimir Putin's increasingly fascistic Russia: dump Russian vodka," Savage wrote on his blog, He singled out the brands Stolichnaya and Russian Standard, coining the hashtag #DumpStoli for the campaign, which has been backed by Queer Nation and the Russian-American group Rusa LGBT.

Savage said attacks on LGBT people in Russia were escalating, and criticised the state for banning gay pride marches in Moscow and St Petersburg.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/26/russia-vodka-boycott-gay-law

[idwiyo]

1. Good.

[Mosby]

2. stoli is already losing market share

To ketel one, grey goose, ciroc, absolut and others.

Absolut is the number one imported vodka in the us by a mile.

[ck4829]

3. K&R! Hit 'em in the pocket and hit 'em hard.

[MNBrewer]

4. Drink domestic vodka

MN makes some great vodkas.