The maker of Sam Adams beer announced Friday that it is withdrawing its sponsorship of Bostons St. Patricks Day parade because organizers exclude gay groups. Boston Beer Co.s decision came a day after a bar in Bostons South End said it would no longer serve Sam Adams beer because of the brewers affiliation with the parade, which is scheduled for Sunday. Mayor Martin Walsh and U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch have been trying to broker a deal that would have allowed a gay group to march, but those negotiations broke down. The Irish-American mayor said he would not march in the parade unless gay groups were allowed to march. He tried to broker a deal between the gay rights advocacy group MassEquality and the organizers, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council. A 1995 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that the council could include or exclude whichever groups it wanted. A sticking point was MassEqualitys request that its members be allowed to carry banners or signs identifying themselves as gay, which organizers did not want. The parade, one of the largest St. Patricks Day parades in the nation, draws as many as 1 million spectators to South Boston.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 03:52:00 +0000
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