Last Wednesday, the penalty for gay sex in Brunei was ten years in prison. On Thursday, Brunei became the eighth current nation to maintain the death penalty for homosexuality, adopting the Sharia Law method of death by stoning. Brunei owns a group of ten luxury hotels, including the Hotel Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills Hotel, which is seeing a growing list of cancellations. For the first time since its debut eleven years ago, the Night Before Oscar event will not take place at the BHH next March. More immediately, Wednesday's banquet honoring Amy Pascal, eight months in planning, has been yanked from the BHH and will now take place on the Sony lot.
Over the weekend, Richard Branson announced Virgin's more than 50,000 employees will boycott all ten Dorchester group hotels in response to the antigay law. Ellen, Stephen Fry, Sharon Osborne, and several other celebrities declared personal boycotts and urged their fans to follow. In addition to the two Los Angeles landmarks, the eight other hotels to avoid are: the Dorchester and 45 Park Lane in London; Coworth Park in Ascot; the Plaza Athénée and Hotel Meurice in Paris; the Hotel Eden in Rome; the Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan; and Le Richemond in Geneva.
The seven other nations with the death penalty for homosexuality are Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Click here for the full list of all 83 countries where homosexuality is illegal.
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