Beer Backlash: Another Gay Bar Drops Brews after Anheuser-Busch 'Abandons' LGBTQ+ Community

Minneapolis gay bar The Saloon is dropping Anheuser-Busch brands from its beer selection and buying from local brewers in response to the multinational bowing to anti-LGTBQ+ pressure and "abandoning" a "marginalized community," UK newspaper the Daily Mail reported.

Billed as the city's oldest gay bar, The Saloon "criticiz[ed] the brand for how it handled backlash over its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney," the Daily Mail detailed.

The Saloon's owner, John Moore, said in a statement that the company "had an opportunity to support a marginalized community in a way that few other corporations have attempted, but they abandoned that direction, local news outlet Twin Cities.com reported.

"We view that as unacceptable," Moore added.

The Saloon joins several Chicago gay bars in shunning the company's products.

As previously reported, trans- and homophobic conservatives launched a social media blitz against Bud Light for partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, calling for boycotts and posting disturbing videos in which cases of the brand were machine gunned and individual cans were struck with baseball bats.

Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, saw sales decline sharply as the anti-LGTBQ+ rhetoric escalated. The boycott and social media pressure are similar to actions homophobic conservatives have taken against other major corporations such as Target and The North Face. Some companies have held their ground against the onslaught – but others have not.

The pressure campaigns are part of an offensive that anti-LGBTQ+ influencers have said is designed to make Pride – and the LGBTQ+ community – "toxic" to big-name brands.

The anti-gay contingent's tactics aren't limited to calls for boycotts, however. Threats of against employees and confrontations at LGBTQ+-supportive chains like Target have unnerved major brands. As CNBC noted, "Attacks against businesses for their inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community have forced companies to try to strike a balance between expressing values or risking backlash – and even violence – from a small but vocal part of their customer bases."

That aggressive posture, and the threats of violence that go with it, have spilled over to affect companies that have not been targeted, but fear they might be.

"The union representing Starbucks baristas said dozens of the chain's locations are not letting employees decorate for Pride Month in June – including at least one case where workers were told violence in response to Target's Pride merchandise sparked safety concerns," CNBC recounted.

But companies that fold in the face of such bullying tactics could find they've alienated the LGBTQ+ community, which possesses major purchasing power. When Anheuser-Busch retreated from its partnership with Mulvaney, LGBTQ+ Americans, along with their allies, began turning away from the company in response.

Hence, The Saloon's decision, announced just prior to the city's Pride celebrations. The Saloon won't just stop serving Bud Light; other Anheuser-Busch products have disappeared from the menu, as well.

Anheuser-Busch's loss is, however, smaller breweries' gain.

"Beers such as Bud Light, Michelob Golden Light and Michelob Ultra will be replaced at the Minnesota bar with local brands like Modist Brewing Co. and Bauhaus Brew Labs," The Daily Mail noted.

General manager Robby Palmer also weighed in, saying, "We will continue to pursue avenues to keep our money local and community-based while we remain one of the best parties in Minneapolis and a place where our queer community can come together to celebrate our existence."