ALLOUT: Coca Cola ‘Refused To Speak Out Against Russia’s Anti-Gay Laws’

<p>Despite a petition that was signed by over 125,000 supporters asking the world's biggest drinks manufacturer to speak out, Coca-Cola has failed to pass comment about Russia's anti-gay laws.</p> <p>by Newsdesk | 21st November 2013</p><p></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://www.thegayuk.com/communities/8/004/009/928/388/images/4597030987.jpg" width="460" height="345" alt="Russian Winter Olympics" title="Russian Winter Olympics"/></p> <p>In an email from the petitioning site AllOut.org, organisers said:</p><p></p><p>'<a href="http://www.thegayuk.com/magazine/4574334751/tags/CocaCola">Coca-Cola</a>'s statement completely ignored people facing discrimination and abuse in Russia. Instead, they tried to rely on their history of supporting equality in countries like the US. That's not enough – you can't support lesbian, gay, bi and trans people when it's convenient and stay silent when they need you the most.</p><p></p><p>'In the time it took for Coca-Cola to issue their weak statement, the violence in Russia escalated. Anti-gay thugs broke into a meeting of organisers, beat people with baseball bats, and even shot one man in the eye. Over the weekend, another group even fired guns at a gay club in Moscow.'</p><p></p><p>Coca-Cola is one of the Sochi Winter Olympic main sponsors, along with ATOS, Dow, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, and Visa.</p><p></p><p>In research conducted by TheGayUK, we asked readers if a company's sponsorship of the Sochi Winter Olympics threatened a company's LGBT friendly image, to which 94.5% of respondents said that they agreed.</p><p></p><p>In a letter to the Human Rights Campaign, Edward E. Potter, the director of Global Workplace Rights at Coca-Cola said:</p><p></p><p>'We have a longstanding commitment to the LGBT community. It is reflected in our statement that is </p><p>available on our public website. We will continue to demonstrate our support of the LGBT community and, </p><p>more broadly, promote our values for diversity through our policies and actions. </p><p></p><p>'In the spirit of the Olympic Charter, as I indicated in my June letter, we believe the International Olympic </p><p>Committee (IOC) has taken seriously the human rights concerns you have raised and followed up on them with a strong sense of urgency. As part of our long-term partnership with the IOC, we continually engage with them on various issues, including those that you have raised, that relate specifically to the Olympic Games.'</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.thegayuk.com/null">Read the letter to HRC</a></p><p></p><p></p><p>AllOut are now asking supporters to help create a campaign that will target Coca-Cola around the world. To find out more <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VZQ6KZP?c=16057941&t=dXNlcmlkPTE2MDU3OTQxLGVtYWlsaWQ9MjI4NzI=">click here</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> </p>