Sir Richard Branson on Saturday
announced a Virgin boycott of the Beverly Hills Hotel.
“No @Virgin employee, nor our family,
will stay at Dorchester Hotel until the Sultan abides by basic human
rights,” Branson
tweeted to his more than 4 million followers.
Virgin is the latest to join the
growing momentum against the Dorchester Collection, which includes
the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, owned
by the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, who has ruled oil rich
Brunei since 1967.
On Thursday, Bolkiah's government will
begin phasing in a version of Shariah law which will allow
punishments such as flogging, amputation of limbs and stoning for
various offenses. In a phase expected to take effect next year,
people convicted of gay relations could be sentenced to death by
stoning.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, on Friday called on
organizations to avoid the hotels.
Last month, openly gay Ellen DeGeneres
messaged: “I won't be visiting the Hotel Bel-Air or the Beverly
Hills Hotel until this is resolved.”