As sure as shamrocks, gays and lesbians banned
from St. Patricks parade
By PATRICIA LEFEVERE
NCR Special Report Writer New York
In what has become as sure a sign of St. Patricks Day as
corned beef and green beer, Irish gays and lesbians in New York were banned
from yet another parade.
Since 1991 the citys Irish Gay and Lesbian Organization has
been banned from marching in St. Patricks Day parades. Successive court
rulings have upheld the right of private groups sponsoring parades to select
who can and cannot participate.
This year Brendan Fay, a Catholic gay activist, thought
Irish-Catholic gays were on the way to victory. But by the time St.
Patricks Day arrived, Fay had been arrested for crashing a parade. Fay
founded the Lavender and Green Alliance five years ago, a primarily Catholic
group.
The first hopeful sign came when St. Paul the Apostle Church, the
Paulist parish at Lincoln Center, invited the alliance to hold its annual St.
Patricks celebration at the church on March 10. Parish leaders advertised
the dinner dance in the weekly bulletin and stood fast when some parishioners
complained that a Catholic church should not be playing host to
homosexuals.
About 300 gays and straights turned out for the dinner dance, some
of them prominent New Yorkers. Priests and nuns danced and sang, as did parents
who lost a son to AIDS.
Fay said the event represented the true meaning of
Eucharist. He was so overwhelmed by the inclusion that tears flowed as he
announced the alliances next victory. Members, he said, had been invited
to march in the St. Patricks Day parade in the Bronx, to be held on March
14. The event was the first St. Patricks Day parade in the Bronx in 70
years.
Three days later though, parade chairman Pat Devine rescinded the
offer regretfully in response to pressure from some other groups
marching in the parade. Fay said Devine had told him that several church
groups, including the Knights of Columbus and the Bronxs Ancient Order of
Hibernians, had threatened to withdraw if the Lavender and Green were allowed
to march under their banner.
Some 25 alliance members decided to march under their banner
anyway. They were instantly met with shouts of go home. Minutes
after the parade began, police surrounded the gay marchers and requested they
withdraw. Six refused. Police arrested Fay; teacher Jim McNulty; journalist Jim
Van Bramer; attorney Donald Maher, who heads the Gay and Lesbian Coalition at
St. Pauls; and two openly gay politicians, State Sen. Thomas Duane and
Councilwoman Christine Quinn.
At least the alliance gained some new allies. As a result of the
groups ouster from the parade, Bronx County President Fernando Ferrer
refused to march as did city Comptroller Alan Hevesi and Public Advocate Mark
Green. The trio represents New York Citys three most prominent elected
officials after Mayor Rudolph Guiliani who has long supported the court ban
upholding parade sponsors right to ban gay groups.
Fay remains optimistic. He said the dinner dance at St.
Pauls proved that inclusion is only a matter of time.
National Catholic Reporter, March 26,
1999
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