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New York City, N.Y., Sep 5, 2014 / 11:48 am (CNA).- A spokesman for the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade said the inclusion of an LGBT activist group in the traditionally Catholic parade was a “gesture of goodwill,” though concerns have been raised that some outside groups aim to remove the event’s Catholic character. Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, a longtime supporter of the parade’s previous policy against political signs and advocacy, said that organizers initially formally assured him that both homosexual groups and pro-life groups prohibited under the old policy could now apply to march...

New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade will finally end its ban on gay groups marching in its annual Irish celebration, organizers said Wednesday. The organizing committee said this move to “change of tone and expanded inclusiveness is a gesture of goodwill to the LGBT community in our continuing effort to keep the parade above politics.”

A gay group will be able to march under its own banner in the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade for the first time on March 17, organizers said Wednesday. The nation’s oldest and biggest St. Pat's parade will lift the ban on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups that want to participate while identifying themselves as gay. “Those of us who are Irish and LGBT would watch this city celebrate and know we weren’t welcome,” former City Council speaker Christine Quinn, who boycotted the event for decades, told the Daily News. “To have that end, not only puts all of...

If organizers are insistent in holding the event they could always agree to march in the nude or carry “Death to Israel!” signs. That should do it for the city once known as 'Toronto the Good'. With less than a month to go before the parade expected to draw thousands of participants, Toronto bureaucrats told the organizers of the annual event that it could not be held. Although excuses were given, there is no other logical explanation other than the cancellation of the event, held without incident for the past 14 years, was nothing more than Christian-bashing. According to Canada...

NICOSIA, Cyprus – Several thousand people turned out for Cyprus’ first gay pride parade on Saturday, exceeding the expectations of organizers who said the event’s popularity shows that Cypriots are shedding their conservative attitudes.

Every year in Rochester, NY, an organization called Metro Justice holds a Peace Parade on Memorial Day . The organization claims to fight for “economic, social, and racial justice,” but their efforts have been compromised in the past where the pre-born are involved. The pro-life organization Feminists for Nonviolent Choices (FFNVC) became a victim of Metro Justice’s dichotomous view of peace when they were excluded from the organization’s peace parade earlier this week. After attending planning meetings where the organization was told by Metro Justice that they would be allowed to participate as long as their message focused on peace,...

Bill Donohue comments on his exchange with officials from New York’s Heritage of Pride parade: For the past few days I have been engaged in an e-mail conversation with officials from the Heritage of Pride parade, New York’s annual gay event; the dialogue has been cordial. I asked to join the parade under a banner that would read, “Straight is Great.” The purpose of my request was to see just how far they would go without forcing me to abide by their rules. It didn’t take long before they did.Today, I informed Heritage of Pride officials that I objected to...

Catholic League President Bill Donohue said that he will not be marching in New York City's gay pride parade with a "straight is great" banner as he initially requested, after objecting to the organizers' rules. "For the past few days I have been engaged in an e-mail conversation with officials from the Heritage of Pride parade, New York's annual gay event; the dialogue has been cordial. I asked to join the parade under a banner that would read, "Straight is Great." The purpose of my request was to see just how far they would go without forcing me to abide...

Yesterday, Catholic League president Bill Donohue was complaining about Guinness pulling its support from the St. Patrick's Day Parade, because organizers don't allow gay groups to march with signs in the annual event. Then he said he wanted to march in the NYC Pride parade, with a banner that says, "Straight is Great." Well, as it happens, the gay pride parade's organizers are totally cool with that! In a statement issued this morning, David Studinski, the March Director of NYC Pride, proclaimed, "Mr. Donohue and his group are free to participate in the 2014 March. His group’s presence affirms the...

NEW YORK, March 19, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The largest American Catholic civil rights organization is taking on the largest brewer of stout beer in the world. The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue has called for a boycott of Guinness after the beer company pulled its sponsorship of New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade because organizers barred homosexual activists from marching. Guinness is owned by British liquor giant Diageo.

I am so old I recall the gay movement starting off with it's no one's business what occurs in the bedroom. And they did not want to be an in your face movement. Well , we now see that what occurs in the bedroom is now demanding to occur in public and they are very much an in everyone's face movement. Time for push back. Christians need to enter all gay parades to represent Christ's views. Have a prayer float. And IF denied entry use the same tactics gays use : pressure corporations and use the courts.

Protestors chanting pro-gay slogans and advocating for equal rights could be heard along Fifth Ave. as the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade proceeded through Manhattan. Mayor Bill de Blasio and other politicians skipped attending the festivity after organizers said gay groups were not allowed to carry gay-friendly signs or openly identify as LGBT. That caused beer brands Guinness and Heineken to drop their sponsorship of the event. Not all Irish eyes were smiling Monday as the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade kicked off in midtown Manhattan amid a protest over participants carrying pro-gay signs. Half a city block was...

If you’ve never been to the annual New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade, better put it on your calendar for next year. That is, if there is a next year. Time could be running out on the world’s biggest celebration of all things Irish. Why? Because the parade’s organizers have for two decades steadfastly refused to allow gay and lesbian organizations to march under banners trumpeting their sexual orientation. The city’s self-appointed guardians of human rights long ago declared this policy exclusionary and intolerant. But, unlike in previous decades, the effort to paint the parade and its organizers...

Yesterday South End restaurant Club Cafe announced that it would no longer serve Sam Adams due to the brewer's association with the parade. In an open letter on its facebook page Club Cafe stated that they were "disappointed that Sam Adams does not understand that the organizers of the St. Patrick's Day Parade continue to demonstrate that they do not respect LGBT Irish Americans by excluding LGBT members of this community from openly marching in the St.Patrick's Day Parade." This morning Sam Adams released a statement that said, in part "We share these sentiments with Mayor Walsh, Congressman Lynch and...

On June 19, 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade was a privately run operation that could write its own rules for participation. Writing for the high court, Justice David Souter noted that gays and lesbians had never been barred from marching in the parade; they were banned from marching under their own banners. The court's unanimous ruling was a victory for the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly. Once this decision was reached, gay and lesbian groups in many cities, including New York, were angry, and some tried, unsuccessfully, to march without...

TORONTO, March 11, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The thin veneer of Toronto’s annual homosexual parade, ostensibly promoted as "family friendly," has been further chipped away by a mainstream media columnist who insists that “in-your-face sexuality is the point of the damn thing." "Ultimately, there are worse things than seeing a penis flopping down Yonge Street," Canada.com News Editor Lauren Strapagiel wrote in an article attacking the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustees who raised questions about the legality of public nudity at the pride parade. The Toronto District School Board's float at the annual Pride parade. Strapagiel called the trustees' concern...

Immaculate Heart of Mary's iconic float in Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade Co-authored with Patrick Craine BOSTON, March 6, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The organizers of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade have rescinded their controversial invitation to a homosexual advocacy group, saying they believe the group’s application was a “ploy” made under “false pretenses.” The news comes days after a Catholic school said it would withdraw its iconic float and school band from the March 16 celebration because of the decision. "In the footsteps of St. Patrick, [Immaculate Heart of Mary School] does not condone and will not appear to condone...

The mayors of New York and Boston both plan to snub St Patrick’s Day parades in their respective cities because organisers continue to ban gay people from marching. The Mayor of New York, Bill De Blasio, said he plans to boycott the parade because of the exclusion of LGBT groups. He is the first New York mayor in about 20 years to do so. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh has also vowed to boycott the South Boston St Patrick’s Day Parade if organisers do not reconsider allowing members of the LGBT community to march.

Bill Donohue comments on the decision by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio not to march in this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade:This is the first time in New York City history that its mayor has decided to boycott the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Personally, I am delighted: I lead the Catholic League contingent every year, and I do not want to march with a public official who does not want to be associated with Irish Catholics.De Blasio says he will not march because the parade does not allow pro-gay signs. Neither does it allow pro-life ones. The great...

Organizers are allowing progressives to parade their political agendas around and morph a historic parade into an event more closely resembling a gay pride parade than the Rose Parade we have come to know. This Wednesday on New Year’s Day, the Rose Parade will showcase a gay wedding being officiated LIVE atop a float shaped like a giant wedding cake. The float is sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. There is nothing unusual about gay activists wanting to promote their cause. What is unusual, however, is the fact that national TV networks during daytime family programming will allow a political...