LGBT Groups, Politicians Criticize NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade for Lack of Irish Identity

LGBT and political leaders are again criticizing New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade for the way it has permitted openly gay contingents.

Though the host committee announced last September that it would welcome an LGBT-specific group of marchers, critics question the Irish credentials of that group, OUT@NBCUniversal, an LGBT employees group at the media giant which broadcasts the parade.  The critics expressed their desire that LGBT groups with Irish links be welcomed too.

According to CBS New York, these critics include several local politicians, who announced their own boycott of the 2015 event:

” ‘The issue has never been about having a gay group in the parade — it has always been about having an Irish gay group in the parade,’ openly gay Council Member Dan Dromm said Tuesday…

” ‘It is clear that last year’s decision was just to placate the parade sponsors,’ said Council Member Rosie Mendez. ‘Until my Irish queer brothers and sisters can march in this parade, I will not be marching at all.’

” ‘Until the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is really and truly inclusive of all I will not march in it,’ City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said in a statement. ‘Half measures will not suffice for a parade that should be open to everyone regardless of who they are or whom they love…Proud Irish New Yorkers should not be forced to hide their identities – period.’ “

Mayor Bill DeBlasio, who himself boycotted the parade in 2014, has not announced his plans for this year’s event. However, sources indicate he will again refuse to march unless a more inclusive plan is announced.

LGBT advocates are claiming the host committee’s ban on openly LGBT Irish contingents effectively remains in place. Brendan Fay of the Lavender and Green Alliance, which has applied to march, are hoping for a last minute decision to open the parade. Fay told The Irish Voice:

” ‘We have a month to go…The doors are still open and 2015 could be a celebration we can all be proud of. With the line of march yet to be published there is still time for both sides to reach an agreement. We at Lavender and Green Alliance have been working for decades for an inclusive Irish parade. My motto is “It’s always a yes until it’s a no.” ‘ “

Emmaia Gelman of Irish Queers told the Wall Street Journal:

” ‘To suggest again, for the 25th year, that we have to closet ourselves in order to be allowed into the parade is outrageous.’ “

Advocates are presently appealing to the parade’s 2015 Grand Marshal, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, as well as political leaders to help negotiate a more welcoming policy.

However, the parade host committee’s response has yet to budge. Top official Hilary Beirne endorsed OUT@NBCUniversal’s Irish credentials and said inclusion would be taken “one step at a time,” but this decision should “not necessarily” be understood as a wider welcome to openly LGBT contingents in coming years.

In September 2014, Bondings 2.0 said the inclusion of LGBT groups in New York City’s and Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parades greatly improved these celebrations “in the spirit of Catholicism’s long tradition of social justice — and perhaps most pertinent here, the Irish charism of unbounded and warm hospitality.” Parade organizers in New York should redouble their efforts to welcome all by listening to affected communities who claim the host committee’s efforts are insufficient.

For our continuing coverage of St. Patrick’s Day controversies in New York City and elsewhere, click here.

–Bob Shine, New Ways Ministry