Jenna Lambert
Equinox Staff
For two major cities this year, the annual St. Patrick’s Day parades took a political turn because of the restrictions on the display of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender support among those marching.
The mayors of both Boston and New York City, along with multiple big name corporations such as Sam Adams Beer, pulled sponsorship and boycotted the events due to the actions of parade organizers according to an article Josh Israel wrote on ThinkProgress.org
Israel also said in his article Boston’s Mayor, Marty Walsh, attempted to negotiate with those in control of parade participants in hopes for approval of LGBT involvement, but his propositions were eventually denied. Walsh explained his decision to no longer participate in a press release prior to the parade.
“As mayor of the city of Boston, I have to do my best to ensure that all Bostonians are free to participate fully in the civic life of our city.
Unfortunately, this year, the parties were not able to come to an understanding that would have made that possible,” Walsh said in the press release.
Israel stated in his article in 1995 the United States Supreme Court ruled that parade organizers have the legal right to exclude anyone from participation under the First Amendment.
Reporters from NBC and ThinkProgress.org found nevertheless, both Massachusetts and New York have passed state laws that prohibit public accommodation discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the previous mayor of Boston, boycotted the city’s parade every year since 1994 over its discriminatory policies according to Israel’s article on ThinkProgress.org. Nadia Sikander, an NBC reporter, stated in an article New York City’s newly elected Mayor Bill de Blasio would become the first mayor in years to boycott the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.
Her article also stated The Empire State Pride Agenda, a New York based LGBT rights support group, applauds Blasio’s actions.
“New York City has long celebrated the myriad and colorful intersectionalities of our identities, and we’re a great city for that very reason. No LGBT New Yorker should be denied the opportunity to fly the colors of the Irish and Rainbow flags simultaneously, to proudly represent all aspects of our city’s heritage,” the group’s [The Empire State Pride Agenda] director, Nathan M. Schaefer, said in a recent press release, according to the NBC article.
Jonathan Musci, an open LGBT member and junior at Keene State College, said he has attended the New York St. Patrick’s Day parade for years.
“As someone who has semi-recently become openly gay, I haven’t paid much attention to the LGBT rights within participation in the parade until this year. New York City has always seemed to be such an accepting place for this type of thing, so the restrictions within this parade are shocking to me. I have never felt any hostility toward my sexuality while spending St. Patrick’s day in the city, but this year, knowing that the hostility exists, made me feel uncomfortable openly being who I am,” Musci said.
Aline Kovacs, a master’s student of social work at Hunter College said she had never attended the parade in hopes to avoid the massive crowds.
Although she is resident of New York City and open LGBT member, Kovacs said she didn’t know about the anti-LGBT agenda until de Blasio made his statement.
“The restrictions make me sad that New York had turned an exclusive parade into such a public event. I think that if any religious group wants to celebrate their heritage and doesn’t want to include people who they morally oppose in that celebration, they can do whatever they want. What is scary is that people employed by our government [NYPD and previous mayors] have openly participated in the parade knowing about the exclusion. I’m proud of de Blasio for his stance on the parade and for bringing the issue to light. It makes me feel hopeful that politicians are shifting their [publicly stated] views, because it reflects on the opinions of the general population,” Kovacs said.
Sarah Bruno, another active LGBT member and junior at KSC, said she chose to avoid both St. Patrick’s Day parades this year.
“I think the restriction on the LGBT involvement in both parades is a crying shame, especially within cities that place so much encouragement on the liberty to openly display who we are; a right protected under the First Amendment, this all sounds like political hypocrisy to me,” Bruno said.
Both Bruno and Musci stated similarly they were proud of who they were. Both noted they had found the overall acceptance of the LGBT community in Keene to be much higher than many other places they have visited.
Jenna Lambert can be contacted at jlambert@keene-equinox.com