Bill Donohue, president of the socially
conservative Catholic League, is calling on Catholics to boycott
three beer companies that pulled their sponsorships of two St.
Patrick's Day parades.
Guinness on Sunday joined Heineken in
withdrawing its support for New York City's parade, while Sam Adams
pulled its sponsorship of Boston's parade.
(Related: Guinness
withdraws support from New York City's St. Pat's Day parade over
anti-gay policy.)
Both parades refuse to allow gay
organizations to participate.
“None of these companies believe in
diversity. No gay person has ever been barred from marching in any
St. Patrick's Day parade, anymore than the parade bans pro-life
Catholics or vegetarian Catholics; they simply cannot march under
their own banner. The parade has one cause: honoring St. Patrick.
Those who disagree do not have to march--that's what diversity is all
about.”
“The parade is quintessentially
Catholic, beginning with a Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is
this Catholic element that angers those who are engaged in a bullying
campaign against the St. Patrick's Day parades. The bullies also have
nothing but contempt for the constitutional rights of Irish
Catholics.”
“In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in a 9-0 decision that the First Amendment guarantees the right
of private parade organizers to determine its own rules for marching.
It is this liberty that the makers of Guinness, Heineken, and Sam
Adams want to squash.”
“I have had my last Guinness and Sam
Adams. Heineken was always slop, so there is no sacrifice there. I
urge Catholics, and all those who believe in tolerance, diversity,
and the First Amendment, to join with me in boycotting these brews.”
(Related: Unhappy
over Guinness' pro-gay stance, Rupert Murdoch calls for boycott.)