Walking by Russia House restaurant in Washington DC last night my immediate reaction was, let’s go in and have some pelmeni. A few seconds later I wondered, should I be doing this? I went in and did it. I did it hard.
I’m hoping we can help overturn Russia’s anti-gay laws through diplomatic channels so I don’t have to give up vodka and little dumplings.
If we do boycott Russian products it will be the lowest level workers who are fired if there is any impact to profits. Those low-level workers will go out and get drunk after they are fired (it’s Russia) and then beat up a few gays. Counterproductive.
I was shocked last week when my friends Heath and Tracey served me Barilla pasta. These are people who support equality but they missed the Barilla hub bub. And it wasn’t even the whole wheat Barilla pasta! High carb is really anti-gay.
Tracey asked how I decide what products not to buy as there are most likely anti-gay people at every company.
It’s a good question and a good point. If I boycotted every product that has an anti-gay person behind it, I would be naked, foraging for berries and driving a homemade unicycle across the country.
The line I have drawn is when a company:
Officially does not respect their own LGBT employees (hey Exxon, how u doin, gurl!),
A company uses profits to support hate organizations, which leads to the suicides of my LGBT brothers and sisters (hey Chik-Fil-A, fuck you, gurl!) or,
A company’s CEO, in a public interview, tells the LGBT community to buy another brand of pasta if they don’t like him hating on us.
If you’re really interested in where to spend or not spend your money, look at the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index.
After Russia House, to make sure I was supporting the LGBT community, I threw a ton of money at Larry’s Lounge on 18th St. This handsome husband and husband team was a wealth of information regarding where to get laid in DC, by what type of guy.
The picture of the trees is completely unrelated but it’s so gorgeous in Washington DC right now.