With many Olympics corporate sponsors choosing to stay silent on the issue of Russia's draconian anti-gay "propaganda" law, it's nice to see that not every company out there is afraid to speak out on behalf of LGBT Equality. Ben & Jerry's posted an image on its German Facebook page yesterday, expressing its disdain for Russian president Vladimir Putin and his anti-gay law.
The caption, which reads "Mr Putin, tear down this law!", of course alludes to the famous quote by President Ronald Reagan: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!", which marked the fall of the Berlin Wall. The image and caption come from a protest sign held by demonstrators during this year's Pride Parade in Berlin. The company, which is based in Vermont and owned by the multi-national Unilever corporation, has not yet posted anything similar on any of its English-language sites. That said, the photo still remains on the page approximately 24 hours later. Had the image been due to a prank or hack, it would have almost certainly been taken down by now.
This is not the first time Ben & Jerry's has expressed its support of the LGBT community. The ice cream company has previously released two flavors to celebrate same-sex marriage: "Hubby Hubby" in the United States and "Apple-y Ever After" in the U.K. The company's chief executive, Walt Freese, told Queer.de that the company has supported equal rights “from the very beginning of our 30 year history.” The company has also scored a perfect 100 out of 100 on the HRC's 2013 Corporate Equality Index.
