Russian activists support international boycott of Russian Vodka

Following suggestions that LGBT activists in Russia do not support the international calls for a ban on Russian vodka called in protest against the recent repressive anti-gay legislation which prevents LGBT people or anyone else saying anything about being gay – the Queer Nation website have published a letter signed by prominent Russian LGBT activists supporting the Dump Russian Vodka campaign called for by author Dan Savage and Cleve Jones.

The website claims that in less than a week the boycott is already working because it has put the oppression being suffered by LGBT people in Russian onto an international stage where the issue has been covered by national networks in every western country. More importantly LGBT people in Russia know they are not alone and that the global LGBT community is standing with them and campaigning for them.

In just one week Queer Nation says the boycott has accomplished:

The entire world is talking how to help our LGBT Russians.
It is no longer possible for President Obama’s press secretary to claim, as he did prior to the boycott, that he’d not heard about the growing demand for a U.S. response to Russia’s anti-gay laws.
It is no longer possible for the International Olympic Committee to claim that those laws will be suspended in Sochi for two weeks, or to do so without others understanding what an offensive, self-serving goal that would be.
The president of the United States is debating whether to cancel his trip to the G20 conference in Moscow.
John Baird, the Canadian foreign affairs minister, has denounced the Russian laws.
Vladimir Putin is wondering how negative press worldwide will impact the Winter Olympics in Sochi, which he’d hoped would be a showcase for his country.

The boycott is currently targeting ALL Russian vodkas available outside of Russia:

Alimov
Beluga
Green Mark
Imperia
Kauffman
Parliament
Moskovskaya
Russian Standard
Sputnik
Stolichnaya
Tovarich
Zyr

Plan are to expanded the boycott to other Russian goods in the coming weeks.

The text of the letter supporting the boycott from LGBT activists and organisations in Russia, reads:

“International support is essential for the survival of Russia’s LGBT community right now. We appreciate and support all attempts to let the Russian authorities know that homophobic and inhumane laws will not go unnoticed and that Vladimir Putin’s regime will not get away with antigay violence. We speak out in favor of boycotting Russian goods and companies and the Olympic Games in Sochi. We also appreciate the attention of international media; we need it. We would also support any legislative initiative aimed at holding the Russian authorities accountable for their homophobic campaign. Thank you for being with us in our hour of need.”

• Masha Gessen, author, journalist, activist

• Kseniya Kirichenko, lawyer and legal scholar

• Alexei Davydov, Radical Faggots Union; political council member of the Moscow chapter of the Solidarity Movement

• Maria Baronova, activist, Bolotnoye Case defendant

• Alexander Artemyev, journalist

• Olga Krause, poet, musician, activist

• Tasha Granovskaya, social worker, LGBT activist

• Bulat Barantaev, Homosexuals, Relatives and Friends Movement; member of the political council, Novosibirsk chapter of the Solidarity Movement

• Mitya Aleshkovsky, photographer, activist

• Karen Shainyan, journalist

• Galina Chachanova, freelance translator

• Yana Mandrykina, attorney