The Stonewall Inn will not serve Anheuser-Busch products during New York City’s Pride events in protest of the beer giant’s political donations, the bar’s owners said.
The self-described “birthplace of the gay rights movement,” a moniker it took on following a police raid at the gay bar in 1969, will stop serving the products beginning Friday in conjunction with the “Keep Your Pride” campaign, which advocates against five corporations that organizers say fund candidates “who support Anti-LGBTQ agendas.” The campaign has taken particular issue with new laws in various states that disallow biological males who identify as females from competing in girls sports.
“We just felt Stonewall having the platform, the power to do this, it was important to stand up,” co-owner Stacy Lentz said, according to an Associated Press report. “We really just want Anheuser-Busch to stop donating to lawmakers who are trying to legalize discrimination.”
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Anheuser-Busch made a total of $35,350 in donations to 29 “anti-LGBTQ legislators,” according to a website for the campaign, which was initiated by the group Corporate Accountability Action.
A list published by the group shares the names and dollar values for donation recipients, which include state lawmakers from Florida, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Each of those states has new laws restricting transgender athletes’ participation in girls sports that were supported by lawmakers named in the campaign’s list.
5 companies who sponsor major #Pride events also gave $324,250 to anti-LGBTQ lawmakers who actively sought to harm the community. Let’s stop the pinkwashing. End the hateful donations or #KeepYourPride.
Learn more: https://t.co/1EWvEazfst pic.twitter.com/m4ODZRdE06— Corporate Accountability Action (@CAACTION2021) June 3, 2021
“We support candidates for public office whose policy positions and objectives support investments in our communities, job creation, and industry growth,” Anheuser-Busch said in a statement, according to the Associated Press, adding, “Together, with our brands, we have a clear role to play in bringing real change and creating an inclusive and equitable world where we cherish and celebrate one another.”
It is unclear how long the Stonewall Inn’s boycott of Anheuser-Busch will last or which particular products it will include. Anheuser-Busch manufactures some of the country’s bestselling beers, including Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob.
The other four companies being targeted by Keep Your Pride are AT&T, NBCUniversal, Coca-Cola, and General Motors, which together have given $288,900 to anti-LGBT legislators, according to the campaign.
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The Washington Examiner contacted the Stonewall Inn and Anheuser-Busch for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
