New York boycotts Vodka - Protest Against Anti-Gay Laws in Russia

On Wednesday, gay right activists in New York City came up t and dumped vodka in the streets as a protest against Russia’s anti- gay law, with a large number of gay bar and club’s owners promising to boycott the use of Russian vodkas as a protest. The protest began last week in Seattle when the boycotting of Russian vodkas by gay bar owners began, which led to boycott in San Francisco where gay bar owners joined hands in this protest and reached out New York City, where gay activists openly poured vodkas in the streets.

 

      Advocates of gay rights in NYC, carried banners and signs that made statements about Russian vodkas being infused with hatred, and gathered together outside the Russian consulate in New York, on Wednesday, and poured it in the pavements and streets.

     This call for protest actually did come, when an investigator in Russia told in May, that a man of 23 years of gay was tortured and then killed when he told his friend about him being gay.

     Last June, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin also signed a law that banned gay propaganda, which would make participation in gay rallies illegal and would also make it illegal for anyone to speak for gay rights and support for homosexuals. A ban was also made by the Russian president on adopting Russian children by same-sex couples.

       This boycott focuses on Stolichnaya vodka, which has its ingredients of Russia origin, and has the vodka company too supported this protest for gay rights. The chief executive of Stolichnaya, Val Mendeleev, wrote in an open letter for the boycott, that the company has always been and will always support and be a friend to the LGBT community.

Russia is due to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Two Lesbians Get Arrested for getting Married in Dhaka, Bangladesh - World Where Crime is a Virtue and Love is a Sin

The news of two lesbian couples getting married and then getting arrested by the police has made the headlines all over. Yes, we live in a world, where loving is a crime, hence two women who did this crime of loving each other is behind the bars while ironic to this, criminals, loads of rapists, murderers are still out enjoying their lives and nothing has been done to punish them yet.

     This incident happened few days ago, on the 22nd of July 2013 where two lesbian girls were arrested for getting married, which was reported in Dhaka times and many other newspaper which created a storm in Bangladesh. Check the controversial report here http://www.mediatimes24.com/news/microapps/2719/23/detail.aspx#.UfAhcecmDE0.facebook
where people are demanding for severe punishment and even death for those lesbian couple for their ' so called crime' committed.
      One girl was a Muslim and the other was a Hindu which created more issue. The father of the Hindu girl had reported to the police a complaint that his daughter was kidnapped and was taken out for trafficking. He also did tell the police that the girl was underage, which actually both the girls deny of being. underage.
    

As per reports, various facts has emerged about the incident of the lesbian marriage in Bangladesh:

The girls had left their village of Firozpur in their own consent on the 14th of July and fled to the capital city of Dhaka. They have started living together in a house there in a neighbourhood in Dhaka.
The father of one of the girl had reported a complaint to the police on the 20th of July on the basis of abduction and trafficking.
The lesbian couple actually did undertake a ritual of marriage by exchanging garlands, which is a symbol of marriage in both Hinduism and Islam.
Police found the girls in Dhaka and arrested them on the 22nd of July. A picture of them exchanging garlands had actually been released.
Media did make a controversial topic out of this issue. As expected, the immature bigot public, political and religious leaders did shower homophobic comments and gay bashing.
One girl even made a statement in the media asking on what basis and ground did the police arrest them. No answer has yet been received to this question yet. 

Concerning this topic, do note these facts:

In Bangladesh, there is no law that causes prevention of two person whether it be same sex or not, to stay and live together, even though the Bangladesh police arrested them.
There is no law in Bangladesh that recognizes such marriage, hence there is no point of this marriage and a basis for an arrest is not existent. Still, the police arrested those crimes for doing something which isn't a crime.
In the Bangladesh Penal Code, the anti-sodomy section 377 says that it does not imply to women, hence the demands made under the law isn't applicable. So, why did the police made the choice of arresting the women?
It is common in Bangladesh that women are exposed to custodial violence and a risk is there that those women too maybe subjected to sexual and physical assaults when they are under detention.
Media has been given access to the girls, but access to the girls have not been given to human right activists, social activists, women's right activists and legal representatives to the girls yet.
Last year, Bangladesh made a solemn commitment to the UNHRC at the time of its UPR, saying that the LGBT community has be given protection from any kind of arbitrary abuse by any kind of state agents or any legal forces. With this arrest, the Bangladesh government violent this commitment.  


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