SOURCE: Bill Donohue Is Angling To Be Named Head Of NYC St. Patrick's Parade

A reliable source who wishes to remain anonymous today tipped me that Catholic League blowhard and anti-gay activist Bill Donohue has submitted himself to be named the head of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade.  According to my source, the other leading candidate is Quinnipiac University president John Lahey, who is thought to be a more moderate voice that might be agreeable to finally allowing LGBT groups to march openly in the parade. Current St. Patrick's Day Parade head John Dunleavy, a retired bus driver, is reportedly under pressure to step down after decades of running the event.

This year's parade made international news after Guinness beer suspended its sponsorship over the exclusion of LGBT groups. Donohue has launched a boycott of Guinness in response, promising to make the beer maker "suffer," and he recently claimed to have the support of the Knights Of Columbus. Should Donohue be put in charge of the parade, the repercussions would make the Guinness flap seem like a trivial tempest as few corporations would be willing to align themselves with such a notorious bigot. The 253 year-old New York City parade is the world's largest and draws millions of spectators.

I'll tweet this post to Donohue and see if he is willing to confirm putting himself forward to be named chairman at last week's meeting of the St. Patrick's Day Parade committee.

RELATED: During New York state's marriage equality battle, Donohue declared that gay people don't deserve to be married because people are still getting AIDS.  In 2010 Donohue said that the Catholic Church "doesn't have a pedophile problem, it has a gay problem." Many more of Donohue's foul comments about the LGBT community can be found here.

Gary Bauer Has The St. Patrick's Sadz

"Guinness, Heineken and Sam Adams have cast their lots with the militant homosexual rights movement and withdrawn their sponsorships of New York City's annual St. Patrick's Day parade. The beer companies are attempting to claim the moral high ground, shaming the Catholic organizers of the St. Patrick's Day parade because they will not allow open homosexuals to march in the parade. Where does this nonsense end? New York City already has a major 'gay pride' parade. Guinness, Heineken and Sam Adams could simply sponsor that event if they cared so much about the issue. Would Guinness, Heineken and Sam Adams force the St. Patrick's Day parade to include groups of polygamists and serial adulterers too? Sadly, this is more evidence of corporate America's complete meltdown on values issues. Far too many corporations are becoming active combatants in the culture war, fighting against the Judeo-Christian values cherished by so many of their consumers." - Former Family Research Council president and failed 2000 presidential candidate Gary Bauer.

Ben Shapiro Has The St. Patrick's Sadz

"Apathy is not good enough when it comes to the radical gay bullies who now insist that every event carry the stamp of their movement. And so sponsors like brewer Sam Adams in Boston and Guinness in New York pulled out of the parade. Guinness pulled out after radical gay groups threatened to march to Stonewall, a historically important point for the gay rights movement, and pour vats of Guinness into the streets. This has become the raison d’etre of many in the gay rights movement: destroying the businesses of those who refuse to abide by their standards of conduct, all in the name of tolerance. And they’ve been tremendously successful at it. Corporate America fears controversy. The militant gay rights movement understands that well, which is why it targets corporations for political blowback when businessowners get involved in politics, even tangentially. Conservatives have historically been wary to engage in the same tactics. But as the left has demonstrated, the tactics work. The only question is whether the right will continue to play by Marquess of Queensbury rules." - Ben Shapiro, writing for Breitbart.

The above-linked piece is titled: "5 Big Wins For Militant Gay Pressure Groups." Shapiro's list: Duck Dynasty, Boy Scouts USA, Chick-Fil-A, Arizona SB 1062, and Prop 8. The article is approaching 3500 outraged comments.

Petition Of The Day

Sign it and think about Bill Donohue.

Rupert Murdoch: Boycott Guinness Beer

Stonewall Inn To Drop Guinness Beer Over Sponsorship Of St. Patrick's Day ParadeUPDATE: Guinness Pulls Out Of Parade

Via GLAAD:

The historic Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of the modern LGBT equality movement, will drop Guinness beer from its shelves beginning Monday, March 17 following the beer company's decision to stand by its sponsorship of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. The Parade, which is the oldest and largest St. Patrick's Day celebration in the country, prohibits LGBT families and organizations from participating. "The ban on gay and lesbian people marching openly forces me, as a proud Irish New Yorker, to look my five year-old twins in the eye and tell them that the parade organizers don't think our family is good enough to join in the celebration," said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. "By supporting the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade, Guinness is telling its LGBT customers and employees that it supports the parade's discriminatory ban," Ellis continued. "It's time for Guinness, other sponsors and Irish New Yorkers to speak out in favor of an inclusive parade that welcomes the Irish spirit of love and family."

Yesterday Heineken dropped its sponsorship of the parade.

Heineken has pulled its sponsorship of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade, which prohibits LGBT families and organizations from marching. A company official at Heineken has confirmed to GLAAD that the company will no longer be a sponsor of Monday's parade, saying "we are passionate about equality for all people." However, according to a tweet from CNBC, Ford Motor Company has announced that it will continue to sponsor the parade, despite the ban on LGBT families marching openly.

Here's the statement from Ford:

Ford Motor Company is involved in a wide range of events and organizations in communities across the country and around the world, including long-standing participation in this parade. No one person, group or event reflects Ford's views on every issue. What we can tell you is that Ford is proud of its inclusive policies. Every member of the Ford team is valued, and we provide employee benefits regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation.

RELATED: On Friday, Sam Adams pulled out of the Boston parade.

UPDATE: Guinness has pulled out.

Guinness today announced that the beer company would drop its sponsorship of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade due to the parade's discriminatory rule that prohibits LGBT families and organizations from participating. In a statement released today, Guinness said: "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. 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."