In case you missed it - Two major beer manufacturers on Friday dropped sponsorship of St. Patrick's Day parades in New York City and Boston to protest bans on gays marching openly.
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| The "Charlotte Pride Band" played and marched with their Rainbow Flag. |
Both parades are allowing gay groups to march but are banning signage about sexual orientation. Sam Adams made the announcement after coming under pressure from Club Cafe, a Boston bar patronized by the gay community. The bar threatened in a Facebook post on Thursday to stop pouring Sam Adams unless the company withdrew sponsorship.
"We were hopeful that both sides of this issue would be able to come to an agreement that would allow everyone, regardless of orientation, to participate in the parade," Jessica Paar, a spokeswoman for Boston Beer Company, which brews Sam Adams, said in a statement.
Gay rights activists praised Heineken's decision. "Heineken sent the right message to LGBT youth, customers and employees who simply want to be part of the celebration," Sarah Kate Ellis, president of gay rights group GLAAD, said in a statement.
In February, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he would not be marching in this year's parade in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh has vowed not to attend the parade unless LGBT groups are allowed to march openly.
Cedar's Take: In Boston, and New York as in Charlotte there is no ban on gays. Only a ban on "marching openly" or rather "marching Loud, Proud and In Your FACE! Most parades ban messages of political nature, or activist issues.
Charlotte's "Pride Band" pushed the envelope pretty hard by carrying the hijacked Rainbow flag and the hushed chats of "We're Irish, We're Gay, and We're Here to Stay". But watching parents along the parade route, most just rolled their eyes and laughed off the band as the passed by with one member clapping in an overly demonstrative way, out of time with the band. I'm happy to note that the band's Village People Medley including "In The Navy" and "Macho Man" was pretty interesting, and thankfully they did not attempt the Irish standard "Danny Boy".
As for Boston and New York's Beer Boycott - CP suspects that Sam Adams either has such a huge Gay consumer base that they were concerned for the bottom line or they made a huge error. Honestly there are hundreds of great beers out there so I won't miss SA.
As for Heineken I consider it undrinkable.
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