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Diageo shares fall as Guinness withdraws from New York St Patrick’s Day parade

Last updated: 00:30 18 Mar 2014 AEDT, First published: 01:30 18 Mar 2014 AEDT

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Guinness has pulled its sponsorship of New York’s St Patrick’s Day parade over the exclusion of gay and lesbian groups from the event.

The famous Irish brewer, owned by British alcoholic drinks group Diageo (LON:DGE), followed the lead of Boston Beer, the brewer behind Sam Adams, which dropped its sponsorship of the Boston parade, as well as Heineken, which withdrew from the New York celebration.

New York and Boston have both banned gay groups from marching in the parade despite being two of America’s most liberal cities.

Last week, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would not be taking part in protest against the ban.

“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,” Diageo said.

“As this has not come to pass, Guinness has withdrawn its participation. We will continue to work with community leaders to ensure that future parades have an inclusionary policy.”

Diageo shares dipped 1.4% to 1,795p on the news.

 

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