Ben & Jerry’s launches ‘Apple-y Ever After’ to support gay marriage in U.K.

Ben & Jerry's, the Vermont proprietor of ice-cream activism, has produced a limited-edition batch of apple pie-flavored pints—called "Apple-y Ever After"—to show its support for same-sex marriage in the U.K., where a gay rights organization has drafted a bill to legalize weddings between same-sex couples.

The apple pie ice cream—available in U.K. scoop shops—includes pieces of apple and chunks of pie crust, and a cartoon of two androgynous people in tuxedos atop a wedding cake on the carton.

Ben & Jerry's Europe launched a letter-writing campaign to urge members of parliament to support gay marriage, and even created a Facebook app so social network users can marry their same-sex friends, "because everyone is equal and deserves to live Apple-y Ever After!"

This isn't the first time Ben & Jerry's has dabbled in same-sex rights advocacy. In 2009, the company renamed "Chubby Hubby" to "Hubby Hubby" in support of gay marriage legislation in its home state.

"Sticking up for civil rights by a progressive company like Ben & Jerry's goes together like big chunks and swirls in ice cream," Sean Greenwood, a spokesman for Ben & Jerry's U.S. operation, wrote in an email to Yahoo News.

While gay marriage is still a hot-button social issue, both here and in England, "Apple-y Ever After" will undoubtedly be less controversial than Ben & Jerry's "Lin-Sanity" frozen yogurt, which initially included fortune cookies in its honey swirl when it debuted last month in Boston.

The company issued an apology to Jeremy Lin, the Taiwanese-American Harvard-graduate-turned-New-York-Knicks star point guard, and replaced the fortune cookies with waffle cones.

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