LA Jock is a a sportswear store in Los Angeles' West Hollywood neighborhood.
To protest Russia's anti-LGBT propaganda law, the owner, Nir Zilberman, has displayed a mannequin in his storefront window dressed in a concentration camp uniform with an upside-down pink triangle on its chest.
Zilberman placed this sign in front of the mannequin.
This is the profile picture for the LA Jock Facebook page.
Zilberman has also posted a video about his protest and the mannequin on Facebook.
Zilberman, who is the son of two Holocaust survivors, said he's “sorry that a lot of Russian Jews got offended” by the display, but he does not regret his decision to put it up.
Rabbi Denise Eger, whose synagogue Kol Ami is in West Hollywood and has many gay congregants, spoke at length with Zilberman about the mannequin. She believes that he's motivated by the attention.
"There are plenty of ways for all of us, together, to draw attention to what's happening to the LGBT community in Russia, with Putin's new, horrific policy, without commercializing the Shoah," Rabbi Eger said in an interview.
When Zilberman fainted during a rally he organized last Thursday in West Hollywood, an article also speculated whether this was all for his own attention.
Zilberman responded to the article with this message:
please the rally was not about me, 1000′s of people around the world support our RALLY, it was all about love. the store was all covered in black with posters of heroes. the screen was playing videos of our friends, gay men and women in Russia and in WWII.
it was all about "one voice" one single can create a war and one single person can make peace. life is a game and a choice to LOVE or HATE.
last night we show the world that love=life. silence=death.
you do not need to be a move star to be a leader, just follow you heart, we al WIN.
im not sur way this pics is even display here this was about people they care for people.
thank you for all the amazing emails, the text and all your support. this is just the start of
you will hear a lot about me and our people the can not have a voice, i will be they VOICE.
in israel and most countries gay pride was very small come to ISRAEL and see what one single person did, today 1000′s go gay, straight, all colors all religions come to ISRAEL
as ONE RACE. HUMAN RACE!. THANK YOU AGAIN ALL THE PEOPLE, ALL OVER THE WORLD. YOU GUYS THAT MADE THIS EVENT, it was all about LOVE!