Was I the only one that is surprised that they have held out for this long ? I just assumed that the parade had compromised years ago, or maybe I am thinking of the Boston St Patricks day parade ?
Probably Boston. This has been an ongoing battle in New York for decades. I first remember hearing about it when I was 11... I'm now 36.
I distinctly remember - about ten years ago - that the Ancient Order of Hibernians stated that, if pressed by legal action to include banner-waving fαɢs, they would simply end the parade. That was what I was expecting - and hoping - would happen. There's a good chance that there might have been a backlash against the homos if the public saw that their legal strongarming resulted in the death of a genuine institution - a much loved parade that is older than the nation itself.
But such was not to be. The almighty dollar spoke when Guinness pulled their sponsorship this year, and love of money proved to be the root of yet another evil - cowardly capitulation to the promoters of the Sin Against Nature that cries to Heaven for Vengeance...
Incidentally, let the role Guinness played in this - much like their corporate fag-comrades in arms at Nabisco, Pepsi, Ikea, Microsoft, etc. - be yet another lesson to those of you who harbor a neoconservative love for American Free Market Capitalism. Big Business is every bit the servant of Satan that Big Government is - perhaps even more so. Maybe the Distributists were right after all.