My goodness.
Guinness has dropped its sponsorship of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade due to the parade organizers’ rule that gay and lesbian groups are not to identify themselves as gay while marching.
“Guinness has a strong history of supporting diversity and being an advocate for equality for all. We were hopeful that the policy of exclusion would be reversed for this year’s parade. As this has not come to pass, Guinness has withdrawn its participation,” the company said in a statement released Sunday.
The city’s legendary Stonewall Inn said over the weekend it would be dropping Guinness beer from its shelves beginning Monday, March 17, before the beer company decided to pull out of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade. Heineken also withdrew its sponsorship.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would be boycotting the St. Patrick’s day parade in New York over the policy to ban marchers who carry gay-pride signs. It is the first time in 20 years that a New York mayor will opt out of the event.
“I will be participating in a number of other events to honor the Irish heritage of this city, but I simply disagree with the organizers of that parade,” de Blasio said at a press conference last month. He will instead be marching in the neighboring borough of Queens.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh did not attend his city’s massive St. Patrick’s Day parade after the event’s sponsor, the South Boston Allied War Veterans’ Council, rejected an application by gay rights group MassEquality to allow 20 LGBT service members to participate and refused to budge on its decision.
“As mayor of the city of Boston, I have to do my best to ensure that all Bostonians are free to participate fully in the civic life of our city. Unfortunately, this year, the parties were not able to come to an understanding that would have made that possible,” Walsh said in a statement released Sunday.









