Russian bakery fined over offensive ANTI-GAY signs, owner wanted to tell ‘sinners’ apart by LOOKS
Russian bakers from the city of Kemerovo, trading in a very pricey artisan bread, have been fined for inciting hate after they displayed expletive-laden signs strongly implying they would not serve homosexual customers.
The bakery, dubbed ‘Bread from a Russian furnace by the Ipatov brothers’, was fined 10,000 rubles (some $150) over offensive signs. The venture was launched early this year, promptly getting into heated controversy over rude signs it featured that read “F***ots are not allowed.”
One of the bakery’s owners, Anton Ipatov, told Russian media back then that the signs merely constituted his beliefs and labeled homosexuality “the most abhorrent sin.” While it might be tricky to tell a gay person from a straight one, the owners stated they would simply judge the customers by their looks. It remains unclear if any alleged gays were actually exposed by the bakers and denied service.
A single loaf of bread by the bakery costs a whopping 650 rubles ($9.75), while your average mass-produced loaf costs around 30 rubles ($0.45). The bakery featured a blackboard with a list, comparing mass-produced bread with their own, supposed to justify the price. Among various pros of the artisan bread, such as grinding wheat with stone mills and using well water, the list explicitly stated that the baker is definitely not gay.
Back in June, the store was “temporarily closed” by the owners, who bemoaned “false accusations” against them. Russian consumer watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, had earlier discovered numerous violations at the store, namely the lack of a centralized water supply and sewage system. Still, the artisan bread by the brothers is available through mail orders.
The whole venture closely resembles the notorious bakeries of Russian anti-gay orthodox tycoon German Sterligov, who also displayed explicit anti-gay signs in his stores, which got him into legal trouble. The businessman was selling a loaf of bread for $10, as well as rods to physically punish misbehaving kids. When asked about the similarities, the Ipatov brothers admitted they had actually been in touch with Sterligov, who even recommended some suppliers of “pure” bread ingredients to them.
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