A provisional deal has been made to allow a gay group to participate in Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade for the first time in over 20 years, but only if members make no reference to their sexual orientation
A tentative deal has been struck to allow a gay rights group to march in Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade this year, after a two decade ban.
Gay rights groups haven’t been able to march in the annual parade since 1993, and in 1995 the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that organizers could exclude anyone they wanted.
Although details of the deal are not yet clarified, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said he was ‘optimistic that a solution can be reached that will work for all parties involved’.
The group in question is MassEquality, a Massachusetts advocacy organisation that aims to tackle discrimination and oppression based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
Currently, organizers have only agreed to permit the gay rights group to march under its own banner if members did not wear clothing or carry placards that made reference to their sexual orientation.
The group has responded to the conditions of the deal, saying members will only take part if they can march openly.
MassEquality’s executive director Kara Coredini said: ‘LGBT people should not have to silence who they are to celebrate other parts of their identities.’
However, Coredini acknowledged the negotiations are ‘a significant step forward’ and is ‘encouraged’ by the conversation, adding: ‘It’s not political to want to be equal. It’s not political to want to be visible and welcomed by your community.’
If the group doesn’t get the green light to march, Walsh has said he will follow in the footsteps of his predecessor and boycott the celebrations.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times about the deal, organizer Phil Wushke Jr. said: ‘[MassEquality] are going to be marching with a “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” sign. That’s it.
‘It’s a day of celebration not demonstration. We’re there to send a message about St. Patrick’s Day and Evacuation Day, and if they choose to abide by that, they are welcome.’
He added that LGBTI people are free to demonstrate in their own parades: ‘They have a day for that, which is non-inclusive and doesn’t allow pro-life groups and Catholic organizations.’
Lead organizer Tim Duross echoed the sentiment: ‘We don’t ban gays, we just want to keep the parade an Irish parade.’
He added: ‘Everyone knows who they are. They’re a good organization, they help LGBT veterans, and if they help veterans they’re OK with us.’
The parade, held in South Boston, was canceled in 1994 after state courts had forced organisers to allow gay groups to march freely in previous years.
Many Bostonians are of Irish Catholic descent, and Walsh’s efforts to include MassEquality in this year’s parade has prompted criticism from the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, who said such a change would ‘destroy the traditional character of the parade’ and ‘reduce it to a secular community festival’.
The New York parade also excludes gay groups, and Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he will become the first mayor to miss the occasion as a result.
Gay rights group gets OK to join Boston St. Patrick's Day parade
(Reuters) - A gay rights group will be allowed to march in Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade, event organizers said on Saturday, reversing a 20-year-long stance after the city's new mayor intervened.
It was unclear, however, if marchers from MassEquality, one of the largest gay rights advocacy groups in Massachusetts, would be permitted to carry signs or use slogans identifying themselves as gay men and women, which may yet prove a sticking point.
"We don't ban gays, we just want to keep the parade an Irish parade," Tim Duross, the lead organizer of the parade that celebrates the city's Irish heritage and honors military veterans, said in a telephone interview on Saturday.
He cited parade rules banning political protest and references to sexual orientation, suggesting that MassEquality was established enough not to have to explain who they are.
"Everyone knows who they are," he said. "They're a good organization, they help LGBT veterans, and if they help veterans they're OK with us," he added, using an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
MassEquality's application to participate in the March 15 parade - the group's fourth try in four years - was denied at first, said Kara Coredini, the group's executive director, in a telephone interview.
But the Allied War Veterans Council, also an organizer, reconsidered after Mayor Martin Walsh, the son of Irish immigrants, threatened to boycott the parade over the exclusion and began attempts to broker an agreement.
"That there is a conversation happening around allowing openly LGBT people to march in this parade is historic," Coredini said.
She and Duross will meet this week to see if they can agree on how MassEquality's marchers can identify themselves in the parade through South Boston. Coredini said the invitation would be meaningful only if their unit could march "openly."
"It's not political to want to be equal. It's not political to want to be visible and welcomed by your community," she said.
RAINBOW FLAG WITH POT O' GOLD
Duross said he was open to a discussion. When asked if the rainbow flag, the unofficial symbol of the gay rights movement, might be allowed, he hesitated.
"If they put a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and a leprechaun, then I think everyone would be happy," he finally responded.
A spokeswoman for Walsh said the mayor and U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch, both Democrats, had another meeting with organizers on Saturday.
"It was a very positive meeting, and they remain optimistic that a solution can be reached that will work for all parties involved," the spokeswoman said in a statement.
Unsuccessful efforts by gay rights groups to join the parade began in the 1990s, and reached the Supreme Court in 1995. The court ruled in favor of the organizers, saying a privately organized parade was free to exclude groups, if they disagreed with their message.
In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council have said they will boycott the city's largest St. Patrick's Day parade this year because it bans gay pride signs.
De Blasio, who, like Walsh, took office as mayor in January, called the practice "discriminatory" and is the first mayor to take such a stance since David Dinkins, the city's last Democratic mayor, did the same in 1993.
(Reuters)
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