Vodka on Ice : Gay Bars’ Chilly Relationship with Russian Politics

Recently, LGBT activist and columnist Dan Savage stopped drinking Russian vodka to show his disgust towards the latest anti-gay laws in the country.

Soon after, he found gay bars and nightclubs all around the world, from Chicago to London, Hollywood to Sydney, San Francisco to New York, joining him by refusing to serve the famous Russian beverage.

In recent days, I've read a lot of articles saying that boycotting Russian vodka in gay bars is pointless, and heard that point of view from quite a few LGBT activists who I have a lot of respect for, including Nikolai Alekseev, organiser of Moscow’s first Gay Pride back in 2006.

However, as much as I respect Alekseev, and as much as I don’t always agree with everything Dan Savage says, I must agree that in this case, I agree with Savage on this boycott.

Why? History repeats itself.

Back in the 1970s, Harvey Milk boycotted Coors beer because they were firing every gay truck driver they had. They took the beer from every gay bar and poured it down the sink to put pressure on Coors. Bars stopped serving it, people stopped drinking it, the press got onto it and soon, Coors gave in and agreed to cooperate.

Sure, in this instance we’re not talking about a company, we’re talking about a State being anti-gay – and don’t think for one minute that I'm trying to state that Dan Savage is the new Harvey Milk! Sceptics are saying that boycotting Russian vodka will not harm the Russian State and will only harm the companies in question, even though they had no say in the vote for the anti-gay legislation. Others like Alekseev say the boycott won’t even harm the vodka companies enough for them to realize since the LGBT community is such a small minority.

However, if we look back at the example of Coors; in this instance, the only thing the vodka companies could do if they felt the effect would be to speak out against the homophobic laws. They can’t promise anything, but the interesting step is when the press gets involved, and that seems to be what’s happening at the moment. It’s turning into a viral movement which has already spread to gay bars across the globe. It’s like a mini “Kony 2012”. We can’t actively change what’s going on in the Russian Federation however, we can (and we must) spread the word. The more the world’s media gets involved, the more people will know, and maybe (although it’s not likely) the vodka boycott will start to change things.

The Winter Olympics are coming up in Sochi next year. The eyes of the world will be set on Russia. This is a major social issue that needs to be discussed. The victims are mostly gay men who are being beaten up, or in the latest most gruesome case, a 23 year-old man was raped to death with three beer bottles. These anti-gay laws are a license for neo-Nazi groups to beat up gays (or worse) and then call themselves law-abiding citizens, when in fact they’re criminals who are given leash by the police because they’re “fighting paedophilia”. The video at the end of this article was taken by one of those groups, who in this case are targeting a 15 year-old boy. They use the Russian equivalent of Facebook, VK.com, to trick gay teens into meet-ups with other gays through fake profiles, only to kidnap and publicly torture them with they arrive at their rendezvous. The sickening campaign is led by Russian ultranationalist and former skinhead, Maxim Matsinkevich, nicknamed “Cleaver”.

It may seem dreamy of me, but I believe if enough people get on board, the more attention we draw towards the issue, and the louder the voice we have. That means going a long way, but news sites such as the LA Times, The Daily Beast and The Atlantic Wire, have got on board for the moment. It may not be much, but the word is out.

Russian activists may think the western vodka boycott is pointless, but it’s not. So far, Russian anti-gay politics have had little-to-no coverage in western media. Russian gay rights need a viral movement like this to acquire a louder voice and reach a louder audience. It’s a movement which should be spread to every gay bar and nightclub around the world, but it relies on us. If there’s a gay bar or club you go to in your city, start a discussion about the Russian vodka boycott. You never know they might just get on board and raise awareness.

Because unfortunately, that’s all we can do to help – raise awareness.