New Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade to Welcome LGBTQ+ Groups
LGBTQ+ groups in Staten Island will now be able to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by marching in a welcoming parade. The new parade, the first of its kind for this New York City borough, is a milestone as LGBTQ+ groups have been prohibited from participating in the existing St. Patrick’s Day parade on the island.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that Staten Island’s existing parade, which prohibits LGBTQ+ groups from partaking in the festivities, will continue in the current format on March 2nd while the second parade will be open to all on March 17th, reported The New York Times.
Kayla Mamelak, a spokesperson for Mayor Adams, said the new parade will be called the Forest Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and it will be organized by the Staten Island Business Outreach Center. The group hopes that New Yorkers will participate in their “revamped tradition.” Mamelak stated, “Everyone interested — regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, race or beliefs — will be welcome to march together.”
The Staten Island St. Patrick’s Parade Committee, which operates the existing parade, has a long history of refusing LGBTQ+ folks from participating in the annual event. Back in 2020, Miss Staten Island, Madion L’Insalata, was banned from marching in the parade after coming out as bisexual. In 2022, several Pride groups, including the Pride Center of Staten Island, Fire Flag, and the New York City Police Department’s Gay Officers Action League, were rejected without any application review.
The president of the Staten Island St. Patrick’s Parade Committee, Larry Cummings, previously stated that LGBTQ+ groups are “not compatible with the church and the Catholic tenets” and therefore go against “Irish heritage and culture.”
When the Pride Center of Staten Island was invited to participate in the new parade which will occur on March 17, the organization’s executive director, Carol Bullock, said “heck yeah.” She continued:
“I am so happy we have taken this parade back for the Staten Island community. I am finally going to march down Forest Avenue with my staff, my board, our supporters and our banner and celebrate our Irish heritage.”
—Sarah Cassidy (she/her), New Ways Ministry, March 5, 2024
So, the LGBT groups can march in a secondary event, Separate and sort of equal. The parade is supposed to be for and about Saint Patrick and everyone Irish. In Ireland, you go to Church on St. .Patrick’s Day. Some American think March 17 and days leading up to it are an excuse to consume too much alcohol. Another stereotype. I grew up near the Forest Ave parade route in the 1950s. The parade was strongly Catholic and exclusively Irish back then.
Nice, a part of NYC leads the way – ALL should follow. Florida should follow in like manner.
Love and peace.
The Republic of Ireland is one of if not the most progressive European countries when it comes to LGBT rights. Yet the Catholic Church lags far behind the conscience of the faithful there as it does here in the USA. We must end the hate that exists in the name of Christianity. I tip my hat to the folks on Staten Island for being welcoming of all people by following in the footsteps of Christ.
I have something like 3/8ths Irish lineage thanks to the 1840’s potato famine. From a variety of family genealogy efforts, I must say one who tries to make a St. Patrick’s Day Parade exclusive just doesn’t know their heritage. Saying someone can’t march in an Irish parade because of the character of the marchers is saying God doesn’t love his most troubled children.
It’s about time! As an Irish-English-German American Catholic cisgender mom of a gay man and a gay grandson, I applaud this overdue event!