This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated March 8, 2024
March brings multiple St. Patrick’s Day parades throughout the month and across the City. This year’s parades will include a new one, intended to be an alternative to a parade that has caused controversy in recent years.
The Bay Ridge St. Patrick’s Day Parade will take place a week after the holiday on Sunday, March 24, while the event officially known as the Brooklyn St. Patrick’s Parade in Park Slope will be held on St. Patrick’s Day, Sunday, March 17. Over in Manhattan, the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade will take place one day earlier, on Saturday the 16th.
The big parade in Manhattan was mired in controversy for many years over the organizer’s refusal to allow LGBTQ+ groups to participate in the event. That ban was lifted ten years ago and there have been no issues since. The Brooklyn events also do not restrict who can be involved based on sexual or gender identity, with the Park Slope event specifically encouraging marginalized groups, such as those from the LGBTQ+ community, to participate.
One annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade here in New York City, however, continues to bar LGBTQ+ groups. The Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade, scheduled this year for Saturday, March 16, has maintained a strict prohibition on any LGBTQ-related groups being part of the festivities.
The controversy over the restrictions at the Staten Island event led to elected officials who had traditionally attended the parade, boycotting it in recent years. Democrats, such as Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon, State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, and Assemblyman Charles Fall have chosen to not attend the event because of its anti-LGBTQ+ policy, but the elected officials who have expressed their objections have included Republicans, as well.
GOP Councilman David Carr, who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, has chosen not to associate himself with the Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Fellow Republican Councilman Joe Borelli was actually removed from the 2020 parade by organizers because he chose to wear a small rainbow flag lapel pin.
Last year, the only elected officials who marched in the exclusionary parade were Republicans, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, Staten Island Borough President Vito Fosella, and Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo.
The Jerome X. O’Donovan Parade Breakfast, a longstanding tradition, was canceled last year and again this year in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, but the 2024 breakfast was put back on the calendar with the announcement of a new alternative parade. Many of the Forest Avenue business owners who are part of the Business Improvement District that grants the permit for the parade have been outspoken in their dissatisfaction with the traditional parade’s policy, including the owner of Jody’s Club Forest, the site of the traditional breakfast.
“This parade will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the values of community and inclusivity that are so central to what it means to be Irish today.”
Representative for the Irish government, Consul General of Ireland in New York Helena Nolan, at the Bebruary 27 announcement of the new, inclusive Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade
The news of a new inclusive parade, which will take place on Sunday, March 17, led to the reinstatement of the breakfast and the involvement of many elected officials in a Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade again. The three Republican politicians who have continued to attend the traditional parade, including this year’s, stated they hoped to participate in the new event, as well.
The organizers of the traditional parade are standing firm, stating that they have no plans to change their policy, which they state is rooted in teachings of the Catholic Church. While Pope Francis has received criticism for maintaining that homosexuality is a sin, he has been very clear that he is against discrimination of LGBTQ+ people and supports same-sex civil unions. A statement from a representative of the government of Ireland on the new LGBTQ+-friendly parade stated, “This parade will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the values of community and inclusivity that are so central to what it means to be Irish today.”
Ireland legalized same-sex marriage via a referendum in 2015 that amended the country’s constitution. The vote was not close, with the yes vote winning by a 25-point margin. The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage just a month later, however, that is less secure, especially given the current conservative court showing in recent years that they are willing to do two things that previously were not associated with the Supreme Court: overturning their own precedents and issuing rulings that take established rights away from citizens.
During some recent cases not about same-sex marriage, some conservative justices have made comments specifically citing the Obergefell v. Hodges case that legalized same-sex marriage, intimating that it is on shaky ground. Polls show American support for same-sex marriage at about the same margin as the 2015 Ireland referendum margin. A parade may not seem all that important in the grand scheme of things, but we must keep moving our society forward, to be more just, during a time when a minority is trying to take us backward.
