Olympic sponsor Panasonic can't be bothered with any acknowledgement or support of gay athletes boxed in by threats from Russia and IOC

ALSO: Does performance of U.S. national anthem violate Russia's gay propaganda law?

Update: Panasonic extends benefits to gay couples, bars LGBT discrimination among its 250,000 worldwide employees

Today, Towleroad published a post based on Buzzfeed's survey of the reaction of Olympic sponsors to the threats Russia has made to arrest gay athletes and the International Olympic Committee's threats to disqualify athletes who self-identify as gay, which it evidently considers a political "statement."
     Olympic "marquee sponsor" Panasonic's statement on the controversy was that the company “has no involvement in, and is not in a position to comment on political and social matters related to the Olympic Games or specific governments in any country or region.”
     Contrast Panasonic's "Go screw yourselves — not only won't we defend you, we won't acknowledge that homos exist" attitude with GE's public statement: “...we expect the IOC to uphold human rights in every aspect of the Games.”
     Remember that when you go camera shopping, boys and girls.
     One more thing, shoppers: if Panasonic's "drop dead" attitude toward gay people isn't enough to make you consider other brands — i.e., if you buy solely on the merits of products — then take a look at the photos below, taken with a Panasonic Lumix GH2.

Panasonic Lumix: a poor value

     A friend of AKSARBENT's bought a Panasonic Lumix GH2 last year because of its excellent video performance — and was dismayed to discover that for $800, he really only got half a camera because of the dull, lifeless images the camera rendered in still mode. (See below.)
     The GH2's replacement, the current GH3, is also mediocre at best in still mode, and in video mode seems to have moiré issues that the GH2 didn't have.
     Pansonic's lens fabrication quality control seems to be lacking, too. Our acquaintance ordered a 14-140 zoom with his camera body, which stuck at a particular point in the zoom range so badly that it made the image bobble while zooming during videography. The seller (Sammy's of L.A. — a great dealer) immediately shipped another lens, but it eventually developed the same problem, albeit with less severity.

Lackluster, low-contrast Lumix rendering
of brilliant landscape taken at sunset

Digital enhancement to bring out vivid colors missing in lousy, original Lumix
image. Such tweaking wouldn't have been necessary with a better still-image
camera like a Nikon, Canon or Fuji.