Heineken and Guinness Pull Their Support From The St. Paddy’s Day Parade
When the mayor said he wasn’t supporting this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, that was big. When the city council announced their plans to follow in the mayor’s gigantic footsteps a month later, that was also a big deal. But when the beer companies turn their back on you, you know you’re screwed.
Yesterday, we learned that Heineken and Guinness–yes, GUINNESS–have officially pulled their support from this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade for the same reason the city’s politicians did: They simply can’t stand for the ban on LGBT groups.
Really, there was a domino effect. Sam Adams revoked their sponsorship of Boston’s parade on Friday after a popular gay bar threatened to stop serving their beer. Then Heineken followed suit, telling CNBC, “We believe in equality for all.” Finally, the Stonewall Inn announced via GLAAD that they would stop serving Guinness if the company didn’t pull their support. Guinness did just that last night.
There’s no denying that this is pretty amazing. It’s safe to say that the majority of these beer companies’ customers are not LGBTQ, so it’s nice to just see them doing the right thing. But will the parade organizers bow under the pressure in time for next year’s parade? We’ll see.
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