Guinness Is Celebrating Pride and the Union Cup by Painting Its Historic Gates Rainbow Colors

Andrea Romano

The famous gates at the Guinness Storehouse are looking very colorful this week for a very good reason.

According to Independent.ie, the Guinness Gates at Rainsford St, also known as St. James’s Gate, have gotten a new, rainbow paint job in honor of an LGBTQ-inclusive rugby tournament that will take place later this week.

The Union Cup, an amateur rugby tournament that hosts 45 teams from 15 countries, has been around since 2005, uniting LGBTQ teams for a two-day festival that promote health and well being. This year’s tournament in Dublin, hosted by the city’s team, the Emerald Warriors, is expected to be one of the biggest and most historic Union Cups to date, especially with the introduction of a dedicated women’s tournament for the first time this year, the Independent.ie reported.

Naturally, Guinness has hopped on as sponsors of the tournament in order to show off their Irish and LGBTQ pride. Not only is the Union Cup a massive event for sports lovers and the LGBTQ community, but it’s also taking place in the first week of June, which is the beginning of Pride events across the globe.

In celebration of the tournament, Guinness has painted its iconic gates with rainbow colors, a long-time symbol of LGBT pride, with its own business logos and taglines as well as the company’s dedicated Union Cup hashtag, #TryWithPride.

“We are proud to support Union Cup Dublin as it celebrates the power of rugby to unite people, and we hope Guinness Gates encourage people to support the teams playing in June,” said Rory Sheridan, head of partnerships at Diageo Europe, in a statement as reported by Irish Central. “The team at Guinness have championed inclusivity and diversity in rugby, values that are integral to Guinness as a brand, through a number of rugby partnerships.”

According to Independent.ie, this marks the first time St. James’s Gate has not been painted the iconic Guinness black or bright blue. The gates are passed by about two million tourists per year, Lonely Planet reported.

The Union Cup will be held at the Dublin City University Campus on June 8 and 9, 2019. Guinness intends to leave the rainbow-colored gates up until June 10, according to Independent.ie.