Does Boycotting Work: Can We Stop Homophobic Practises With Our Wallet?

The small country of Brunei, home to less than half a million people and situated in the corner of the island of Borneo, has come under an intense international spotlight over the past week. The country has decided to introduce draconian Islamic laws that would see thieves punished with amputation, adulterers given the death penalty, and gay men and women stoned to death.

“Among the punishments will be the amputation of limbs for theft, the death penalty for apostasy, and a range of punishments for those found guilty of engaging in sexual activity with members of the same gender and adultery,” the human rights advocacy group, The Brunei Project, has reported.

What’s worse is the laws have been seemingly passed without public knowledge and have been rushed into effect, as though to quietly minimise international attention and pressure. Some Brunei citizens didn’t even know about the changes until Reuters leaked the details last Monday.

"You wake up and realise that your neighbours, your family or even that nice old lady that sells prawn fritters by the side of the road doesn't think you're human, or is okay with stoning," one gay Brunei man anonymously told the BBC.

"I want to see Islamic teachings in this country grow stronger," Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said in a public address – without explicitly mentioning the new laws.

“The (Sharia) Law, apart from criminalising and deterring acts that are against the teachings of Islam, also aims to educate, respect and protect the legitimate rights of all individuals, society or nationality of any faiths and race,” the Brunei Prime Minister’s office said in a released statement.

The international reaction has been swift. The United Nations called the new "cruel, inhuman and degrading" laws a “serious setback” for human rights.

"You wake up and realise that your neighbours, your family or even that nice old lady that sells prawn fritters by the side of the road doesn't think you're human."

A spokesperson for the US Secretary of State has said they “strongly oppose violence, criminalization and discrimination targeting vulnerable groups, including women at risk of violence, religious and ethnic minorities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons.”

Many political activists and governing bodies have called on the country to ratify and implement the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which it signed in 2015, and which explicitly forbids these kinds of archaic punishments.

But a few celebrities and gay rights activists have thought of a different approach.

Sultan Hassanal is the owner of the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA), which has helped him become one of the richest men in the world – with a net worth of over US$20 million.

The BIA has many fingers in many pies around the world. It owns a major international airline, as well as diverse investments in bonds, equity, currency, gold, and real estate. They also have several substantial investments in the US. Included in this portfolio are a number of luxury high-end hotels you may have heard of: the Dorechester in London, the Beverly Hills Hotel in LA, the Plaza Athénéein Paris, and many more.

“Every single time we stay at or take meetings at or dine at any of these nine hotels we are putting money directly into the pockets of men who choose to stone and whip to death their own citizens for being gay or accused of adultery,”George Clooney said in a highly-published op-ed for Deadline.

Clooney, along with other celebrities, like Ellen DeGeneres and Elton John, have called for a total boycott of these hotels and businesses.

“Brunei is a Monarchy and certainly any boycott would have little effect on changing these laws,” Clooney adds. “But are we really going to help pay for these human rights violations? Are we really going to help fund the murder of innocent citizens?”

This isn’t the first time a boycott has been proposed for businesses that are affiliated with homophobic actions. The restaurant chain Chick-fil-Ahas been boycotted for years by the LGBT+ community and their allies. While no one is being stoned to death, the chain has donated large amounts of money to anti-LGBT+ lobbying groups – more than US$1.8 million in 2017 alone.

The chain is still very much in business, but it has been hit by the boycott. Recently they had several locations in airports across the US denied to them because of these homophobic connections.

"Are we really going to help pay for these human rights violations? Are we really going to help fund the murder of innocent citizens?”

There have also been long campaigns against Russian products, such as Stolichnaya vodka, to stand in solidarity with the LGBT+ people currently victim to the country’s intensely homophobic laws. Although this has been controversial, with some activists saying this boycott may ultimately damage both workers and current LGBT+ campaigns in the country.

"Boycotts are a chance for people to take their power as consumers and turn it into a social good,” said Andre Banks, co-founder of All Out, a US LGBT+ advocacy group.

“But the challenge is making sure it puts real pressure on Putin and projects a positive image of the LGBT community. We do not want to send the message that we are anti-Russian or anti-Russian business. The problem is Putin not Russia."

In the case of Russia, his group instead put pressure on the Sochi Winter Olympics, rather than various Russian brands. Banks argues for a thoughtful boycott, while other activists caution that simply choosing not to buy a product or go to a hotel is enough.

"People mustn't think that if they have one less vodka at G.A.Y. or click 'like' on Facebook then that is their activism done," said Richard Lane from the UK advocacy group Stonewall.

"Campaigning is about more than just Twitter storms, change needs long-term commitment from people."

We may not be able to change Brunei overnight, but this intense international backlash has already damaged the country’s ambitions to be the next tourist hotspot.

Even in his statement, Clooney admits the boycott may be ultimately be fruitless, but you can only hold that opinion if you view the boycott as the be all and end all. Making informed consumer choices is an important start. If you want to take a stand against injustice making that stand with your wallet can be a meaningful and impactful choice you make, but it shouldn’t end there. Get involved with activist organisations, petition governments, tell your friends.

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