LOS ANGELES – West Hollywood may be home to a thriving Russian community, but at least one import is no longer welcome at the city's gay bars.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed anti-gay laws, bar owners decided to say "nyet" to Stolichnaya vodka. Numerous bars have removed the brand — made from Russian ingredients — from their shelves and stopped ordering it from distributors. Bars in New York, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco are planning to do the same.
"Nobody was buying it," said Bob Yacoubian, owner of the Mother Lode bar in West ÂHollywood.
Yacoubian plans to hang a sign in his bar reading: "Russia's intolerance of homosexuality should not be supported by our hard-earned money!"
Putin recently signed legislation banning "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations," including gay pride events and providing children with information about Âhomosexuality.
Human rights activists say the legislation has encouraged hate crimes against gays and lesbians. Putin also recently signed legislation banning gay adoptions.
West Hollywood City Council Member John Duran, who has been encouraging bars to join the boycott, said protesters in West Hollywood plan to dump the contents of Stolichnaya bottles into a gutter to raise awareness of Russia's laws. The protest is planned for Thursday in front of Micky's bar and will use bottles filled with water, not vodka, he said.
Micky's, as well as Eleven Bar & Nightclub, have stopped selling Stolichnaya. In a statement on its Facebook page, Revolver Video Bar announced last week that it would boycott all of the brand's products "effective immediately."
About 40 percent of West Hollywood's population is gay or lesbian, according to city surveys. It is also home to a large number of immigrants from countries of the former Soviet Union.
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