Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseev responded to Dan Savage's call for a worldwide boycott on Russian vodka today on his FaceBook page.
"I think all this bullshitting about boycotting Russian vodka only makes outsiders (heteros, authorities, media) think that all gays are real alcoholics that their boycott can have impact on Vodka sales and that they have nothing else to boycott except Vodka. LOL."
As usual, Savage is taking credit for kicking off a boycott that was actually the brainchild of someone else. In this case, LGBT activist Cleve Jones.
Alekseev elaborated in a post on Gay Star News:
Nikolai Alekseev, a regular Gay Star News contributor, has said it will have little effect on the ‘gay propaganda’ law.
US gay rights campaigner Dan Savage pioneered the boycott, telling gay bars to ‘dump Russian vodka’.
Alekseev, in the heart of fighting against the homophobic law, described the boycott as a ‘symbolic gesture doomed to failure’.
‘To be honest, I don’t see the point in boycotting the Russian vodka,' he said.
'It will impact anyone except the companies involved a little bit. The effect will die out very fast, it will not last forever.’
Alekseev added: ‘And what is the aim of this boycott? The producers, even if they become bankrupt because of the boycott (which is unlikely) will not be able to influence Russian politics and President Putin as well as the decisions of the State Duma.’
The human rights campaigner said if people around the world want to do something that will actually help Russian gays, then they should target the homophobic lawmakers.
He said: ‘Just three or four persons on the visa ban list of the EU, USA, UK and several other countries will dissuade other Russian politicians to follow this path.
‘This is the only thing which can effectively work.
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