Stonewall Protest Sees Anheuser-Busch Beer Poured Down The Drain

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Gallons of beer went down the drain Wednesday as The Stonewall Inn took a stance against brewer Anheuser-Busch's donations to anti-LGBTQ politicians during Pride month.

Bottles of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Michelob ULTRA were poured out by activists at the bar, famed as the birthplace of the gay rights movement.

"We thought it was really important to pour out their product today," Stacy Lentz, Stonewall's co-owner, told Patch. "It's an opportunity for us to use Stonewall as a platform, especially during Pride month. You can't just throw up a rainbow logo and say you're for equality, and then donate to legislators across the country that are against us, right?"

The Stonewall Inn also demanded that Anheuser-Busch back the Equality Act.

Prior to 2015, Anheuser-Busch had a reportedly solid track record of supporting LGBT people, and was even announced by San Diego Pride as one of the best places to work for LGBT individuals.

But from 2015 on, Anheuser-Busch is one of five companies that reportedly made 48 donations totaling $35,350 to 29 anti-LGBTQ legislators in Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi that were behind recent bills attacking trans youth, according to Corporate Accountability Action's Keep Your Pride campaign, a movement watching powerful transnational corporations.

The campaign called out four other companies—AT&T, The Coca-Cola Company, General Motors and NBCUniversal—AT&T was listed as the largest donor for anti-LGBTQ legislation.

Anheuser-Busch's website and social media platforms show statements made in support of Juneteenth and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, but none for Pride month.

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The Stonewall Inn's owners said no contact had been made with representatives of the brewery.

"Did we hear from them?," said Stonewall Inn co-owner Kurt Kelly. "Not yet."

"They did do a blanket response to the media and it was a very vague, tepid response where they said that they fund politicians that helped fund their industry and that they were all about their brands, about equality, inclusion, and they support that," said Lentz. "But then the reality is that's just not true and that response was not good enough."

"At the end of the day, we don't need Budweiser," said Kelly. "Budweiser needs us."