Gay groups denied permission to march in main St. Patrick's Day parade in South Boston

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/south_boston/2012/03/gay_groups_denied_permission_t.html

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people will not be marching in the traditional South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade Sunday after two groups received rejection letters from organizers.

But members of the two groups are expected to take part in an alternative march known as the St. Patrick's Peace Parade, which is scheduled to begin an hour after the main one along the same route.

MassEquality, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents, applied to march in the parade organized by the Allied War Veterans Council.

The veterans group said no, citing the 1995 US Supreme Court case Hurley vs. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Group of Boston, which ruled parade organizers do have a legal right to decide who marches in the parade.

Join the Impact, another gay, lesbian and transgender group in Boston, was also denied permission to walk in the main parade this year. The Irish-American group marched in the parade in 1992 after obtaining a court order, but no gay or lesbian organization has walked in the traditional parade since the Supreme Court ruling, according to Kara Suffredini, executive director of MassEquality.

[pnwmom]

1. If this is important, then why not have gay pride parades

organized by ethnic groups?

People could march under ethnic and religious banners like "Irish Americans" or "Gay and Irish" or "Gay Catholics" in the gay pride parade.

I'm not a parade watcher, so excuse me if this is already being done.

The problem with trying to shoe-horn this into St. Patricks day parades is that that parade is about being Irish -- not about a person's sexual orientation.

[BlueState]

2. This has been going on every year since I can remember.

It's sad, particularly as a gay Bostonian of (mostly) Irish heritage. It is well passed time that the leaders of this parade
forget this petty nonsense and move on.

I found a great quote from the Irish foreign minister, Eamon Gilmore. When similar groups were banned in NYC's parade in
2010, he said:

"What these parades are about is a celebration of Ireland and Irishness. I think they need to celebrate Ireland as it is, not as people imagine it. Equality is very much the center of who we are in our identity in Ireland."

"This issue of exclusion is not Irish, let's be clear about it. Exclusion is not an Irish thing..... I think that's the message that needs to be driven home."


Irish Central

I think a quick trip to the motherland might help to change these bigots minds. They are a warm and welcoming people.

[Fearless]

3. All gays please report to the back of the bus... n/t