A page in Swedish furniture retailer IKEA’s 2017 U.S. catalogue features two men — a Caucasian and an African American — cuddled up on the sofa, and comes with the caption “All homes are created equal.” A same-sex couple is also currently in the lead in a competition to select the next star couple on the cover of the company’s catalogue in Russia. [...]
Meanwhile in Russia, where homophobia often has translated into vicious attacks on same-gender couples, a gay men couple posing in a living room is currently in the lead in the "Face from the Cover" competition to choose the stars who will grace the cover of its next annual catalogue. [...]
In 2013, IKEA Russia came under criticism after it removed an interview with a lesbian couple from its Family Live magazine, ostensibly in order to comply with Russia’s anti-gay “homosexual propaganda” law. The company said at the time it deleted the feature — an interview with the London-based lesbian couple Clara and Kirsty — because of “possible legal ramifications.”
IKEA’s track record isn’t all bleak, however. A 2015 Christmas commercial in Germany featured “a subtle, yet highlighted gay kiss.” And in November 2015, IKEA U.S. proudly announced it had received a perfect score of 100 percent in the 2016 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), “a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to LGBT workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation.”
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