Finally. FINALLY. Just three days before the launch of the Sochi Winter Olympics, telecommunications giant AT&T, an Olympic sponsor, has stepped forward and voiced its disapproval of Russia’s anti-gay laws.
In a posting to its website, the company made it clear that as a sponsor for the US Olympic team, it refuses to endorse the anti-gay climate brewing in Russia, saying, “we are a long-standing sponsor of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), we support HRC’s principles and we stand against Russia’s anti-LGBT law.”
So just to sum things up: AT&T did something faster than McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Visa. Wow.
And did you see how easy that was? I mean, it’s not like the gays asked for much, wanting some sort of statement from the rest of sponsors. A blog post, a quickie press release. Hell, we would have settled for a tweet even. The LGBT community isn’t asking for the world here: all we’re asking is that, if you give money to the Sochi Olympics, you at least acknowledge that the homophobia in the country is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
Good bless ‘em, major corporations are starting to catch up on diversity in advertisements. And yes, there’s always going to be a vocal minority of bigots fighting back tooth and nail, but that market is shrinking every day. It’s okay, guys! You can acknowledge our existence now!
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