Billionaire Jim Koch’s Boston Beer SAM +1.41% Co., producer of the popular Sam Adams brew, will no longer be sponsoring Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade because of the organizer’s failure to include LGBT groups.
The move comes after a Boston bar said it would no longer serve Sam Adams beer because of its support of the parade.
Gay rights advocacy group MassEquality and organizers of the South Boston parade, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, have been embroiled in talks attempting to broker a deal to allow 20 LGBT veterans to march. A 1995 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that the council could include or exclude groups at its discretion.
Founder and Brewer Jim Koch (Samuel Adams via AP Images)
Organizers reportedly objected to MassEquality’s request that its members be allowed to carry banners displaying their sexual orientation. They also noted the group in question, LGBT Veterans for Equality, was not a recognized veterans’ organization. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and U.S. congressman Stephen Lynch intervened, but a resolution was not reached.
“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. But given the current status of the negotiations, we realize this may not be possible,” Boston Beer Co. said in a statement its spokesperson referred inquiries to. “We share these sentiments with Mayor Walsh, Congressman Lynch and others and therefore we will not participate in this year’s parade.”
The parade, scheduled for Sunday, is one of the largest in the country and draws as many as 1 million spectators to South Boston. A statement issued by the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council read:
“We are approached by all types of groups. Some of which try to destroy the integrity of not only this parade, but our faith, this town and our Country.”
“Saint Patrick is the Patron Saint of our Irish. We invite all to join us to celebrate this historic event, but we must maintain our guidelines to insure the enjoyment and public safety of our spectators.”
Parade organizer Philip J Wuschke Jr told the Guardian: “Our theme is St Patrick’s Day and Evacuation Day. It isn’t a sexually oriented parade. They have parades for that.”
Mayor Walsh has said he will not march in protest. In New York, mayor Bill de Blasio will also boycott the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade because it does not permit LGBT participants to display their orientation.
Jim (James) Koch landed on the Forbes billionaires list for the first time in 2014, thanks to soaring stock in his Boston Beer Company. Shares of the largest craft brewery in the nation rose 50% in the last year.
Stock prices of Boston Beer Co. Inc. fell 2% between Monday and Wednesday this week but have since recovered.
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