Russia sits at a crossroads — in fact, it sits at many.

It sits at a geographical crossroads, where Western and Eastern cultures collide. It sits at a political crossroads, as it decides whether to continue pursuing the democratic, free-market dream or to backslide into authoritarian rule. And it sits at an economic crossroads, largely as a result of the first two.

This hasn’t been good news for the LGBT community. Sure, during times of revolution, LGBT citizens are often told, “You are our equals in struggle!”, but after the statues fall and the bread lines begin to form, gays and lesbians are usually cursed as aberrations, decadents, outsiders. We’ve seen this play out numerous times over the past century, in many countries around the world. Russia is no exception.

Over the past couple of years, Russia has enacted laws to silence “LGBT propaganda”, and it’s justified such legislation with flawed sociological studies. Unfortunately, these laws are written so vaguely that no one really knows what counts as “propaganda”. President Putin says that there is no discrimination against Russia’s LGBT citizens, but can they hold hands in public? Can they kiss? Can they declare their love in any way, or is that breaking the law?

This has made the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi a flashpoint for LGBT activism. Rights workers know that Russia won’t willingly repeal its homophobic laws — there’d be no way for the country to save face — and they’ve been lobbying Olympic sponsors to address the problem instead by hitting the country where it counts: squarely in the rubles.

Unfortunately, activists say that one of those Olympic sponsors is reluctant to voice any support at all for the LGBT community. How do we know that? Because the Russian government bugged one of the activists’ meetings, then broadcast the recording on the national news.

For the record: that’s kind of a dick move.

In the recording,  Igor Kochetkov of the Russian LGBT Network says that while some Olympic sponsors have been supportive of the activists’ efforts,

“There’s one very large sponsor, an automobile company, that absolutely refuses to talk about homosexuality. And they say that even if there will be some support from on top — not even financial help, just moral support — they won’t have anything to do with it because they’re very worried if could negatively impact sales.”

Who could that sponsor be? Volkswagen.

That’s a little ironic. Here in the U.S., VW earned a perfect “100” score on HRC’s most recent Corporate Equality Index.

Then again, maybe it’s not ironic: Porsche, which is owned by Volkswagen, is one of just three automakers that refuses to offer workplace protections and equal benefits for its LGBT employees.

OUR TAKE

Volkswagen isn’t the only Olympic sponsor to remain silent on the matter of LGBT rights in Russia. Still, we’d like to see VW make some kind of statement against Russia’s regressive, oppressive laws.

If it does, Volkswagen will no doubt receive some negative press in Russia. Elsewhere, however, it’s likely to garner considerable support from fans, who in this day of socially oriented companies like Tom’s Shoes and Warby Parker, increasingly expect their favorite brands to do “the right thing”.

If VW remains silent, though, it could face some kind of backlash. How big will that backlash be? Will it take VW down a peg in this year’s HRC rankings? That depends on how loudly people like us — and you — complain about it.

If you’re so inclined, perhaps you could send the folks at Volkswagen’s U.S. offices an email, or call 800-DRIVE-VW to voice your own opinion.

[h/t John Voelcker]