SF LGBTQ bars mostly mum on liquor boycott

At least one San Francisco LGBTQ bar is boycotting some alcohol sold by companies that have pulled out of sponsoring the city’s Pride festivities. The decision comes on the heels of a lesbian-owned East Bay watering hole that decided to boycott a large liquor conglomerate.

Moby Dick, at 4049 18th Street in the Castro LGBTQ neighborhood, has decided to pull Budweiser and Bud Light this week, co-owner Scott Rife told the Bay Area Reporter.

Anheuser-Busch, which produces both, was one of the companies that pulled out of sponsoring San Francisco Pride, as the paper previously reported.

Diageo, which owns over 200 alcohol brands, including Johnnie Walker, Ketel One and Smirnoff vodka, Guinness, and Captain Morgan, also pulled out of sponsoring the City by the Bay’s celebration. But the London-based business with a corporate office in San Francisco has stated it “will continue to appear at Pride events across the country this year through its Smirnoff brand.”

Rife said Bud Light will be replaced with Barebottle Brewing Co.’s Muir Woods Hazy IPA. He and his husband, fellow bar co-owner Joe Cappelletti, came to the decision mutually.

“We were just figuring out what to do with the extra tap,” Rife told the B.A.R. in an April 29 phone interview. He added that they will also “stop allowing any signage in our bar for any Anheuser or Diageo product,” and liquor representative-to-patron engagement as they “identify any additional related products” that the bar may also stop selling.

But Moby Dick is the only San Francisco LGBTQ bar that told the B.A.R. that it’s joining the Albany bar Ivy Room, which is owned by friends and business partners Summer Jager and Lani Torres, in reconsidering its relationship with liquor companies that’ve pulled out of San Francisco Pride. The East Bay establishment never carried Anheuser-Busch but is boycotting Diageo products.

The B.A.R. reached out (either through email, phone call, text message, Facebook message, or an in-person visit) to Badlands, 440 Castro, Lone Star Saloon, the Lookout, Beaux, Midnight Sun, the Edge, Lobby Bar, Powerhouse, the Eagle, Copper, the Mix, Mother, the Stud, and Twin Peaks, and either did not hear back, or could not get a comment on the record.

The B.A.R. also didn’t hear back from Guerneville bars Rainbow Cattle Co. and the R3 Hotel.

Ivy Room’s Jager explained in a phone interview, “We have been a little hub for the LGBTQ community for quite some time.” Its website notes that it is “an all-inclusive venue.”

“We were hoping to raise awareness to the bars in the Castro,” Torres told the B.A.R. “That, I feel, that’s what’s needed.”

Jager added, “That’s where the money is and it’s hard. I just wish and I hope a stance will be taken there as well.”

The women made headlines recently with an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about their boycott.

“We didn’t think it [the decision to pull Diageo products] would be impactful necessarily, but we’ve always run our bars by the ‘Do right’ rule, and their decision to pull funds from SF Pride really hurts our community in a way with the political environment going on. …,” Jager said. “It just seemed as though it was the right thing to do to really show our community we are here for them. These are the values and morals we have.”

Jager said they’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback.

“We have gotten an amazing response and support from our community,” she said. “A lot of people are emailing us, writing to us on our social media pages, but they are taking time to email us even from different cities. It’s just amazing.”

SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford, a transgender woman, had attributed the beverage companies’ backtracking as sponsors to the new anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion climate that is sweeping across corporate America since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. Almost immediately, he and his administration have gone after what they term as "woke" DEI policies and programs at businesses, universities, and in the federal government.

In March, after news of the sponsors withdrawing from SF Pride was reported, Ford had urged community members to donate to the organization. But in a brief interview in April, she said that hasn’t materialized.

"There hasn't been a groundswell of support," she said, among the LGBTQ community here to crowdfund money to make up for lost sponsorships, which she said totaled $300,000 in lost revenue.

Asked about the Ivy Room’s decision, Ford said April 17, “We appreciate the support.”

Reached for comment April 29 regarding Moby Dick’s decision, Ford stated, “We respect and applaud the decisions of local businesses to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in the ways that feel right to them.”

Diageo and Anheuser-Busch didn’t return requests for comment. Diageo had stated to Bloomberg that it will continue to sponsor Pride festivities across the U.S. this year, not referencing its decision to opt out of San Francisco’s.

Moby Dick, an LGBTQ bar in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, has stopped selling Anheuser-Busch products because of the company’s decision to drop its sponsorship of San Francisco Pride. Photo: Courtesy Scott Rife