Posted on 03/17/2006 10:01:26 AM PST by Great Communicator
The chairman of the nation's biggest St. Patrick's Day Parade marched Friday while sidestepping questions about remarks comparing gay Irish-American activists to neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and prostitutes.
"Today is St. Patrick's Day. We celebrate our faith and heritage. Everything else is secondary," said the chairman, John Dunleavy, who wore a sash of the Irish colors.
Dunleavy was blasted by the City Council's first openly gay leader for the remarks, which appeared in The Irish Times on Thursday.
He told the newspaper, "If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow Neo-Nazis into their parade? If African Americans are marching in Harlem, do they have to let the Ku Klux Klan into their parade?"
About the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, Dunleavy said, "People have rights. If we let the ILGO in, is it the Irish Prostitute Association next?"
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is of Irish descent, said she didn't think Dunleavy's remarks were worth a response. She declined to participate in the Fifth Avenue parade after organizers barred an Irish gay and lesbian group for a 16th straight year.
Huge crowds lined the streets at the start of the parade, waving Irish flags, wearing green hats and carnations and painting clovers on their faces. The city's parade, with 150,000 marchers and up to 2 million spectators, is the nation's oldest and largest St. Patrick Day parade.
New York "is the kernel of the whole Irish community in the U.S.," said Joe Sanning, 52, an officer with the Ireland
-snip-
"The comments bring to the forefront a longstanding bigotry, and the bigotry often translates into violence in our communities," said graduate student Emmaia Gelman, 31. She was among a dozen demonstrators organized by a group called Irish Queers,
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Things have changed..."anti gay" remarks?....
I guess settleling the matter with a game of 'smear the queer'
is out then?
Gelman's an irish name? Whaddoyaknow?
"If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow Neo-Nazis into their parade? If African Americans are marching in Harlem, do they have to let the Ku Klux Klan into their parade?"
So did gays persecute the Irish?
The chairman of the nation's biggest St. Patrick's Day Parade marched Friday while sidestepping questions about remarks comparing gay Irish-American activists to neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and prostitutes.
Why is it so important for everyone to know that they have sex with the same sex?
I really don't care. Until they force me to care.
His remarks make perfect sense to me.
They've been persecuting the Saint Patricks's Day Parade for 16 straight years via the legal system. Can you imagine the arrogance of suing your way to an invitation to someone else's party?
Good for him.
Go have your own parade on Brokeback Mountain and shut up, homosexuals!
What are the anti-gay remarks? Typical AP headline.
Of course thats what they want so they can hang their "I'm A Victim" certificate on their wall and cram their agenda down our throats
LOL - perfect solution.
but comparing nasty queers with the KKK and the NSDAP is a bit on the tasteless side.
the just get on your nerves - they don't kill you.
I understand his anger though - can't celebrate a party without a 'hey we go to bed with the same sex' banner anymore.
Well put!
I knew an ultra Catholic who didn't know I knew two of his 5 kids were homo and lesbian. He asked me what I thought about the St. Patrick's Day parade controversy. He took a dim view of me because I left the Church as soon as I was able during my stint at Holy Innocents.
I said: "So where does it end, then? Irish Necrophiles, Beastiality..." That shut him up pretty fast.
Dunleavy was blasted by the City Council's first openly gay leader
Shame on the WP for getting such an important piece of gay civil rights history wrong. NYC's first openly gay Council member was, of course, Greenwich Village's delightful Rep. Tom Duane, who is now a NY state senator.
The St. Pat's parade is not about being Irish. It is a show of force by persecuted Catholics. It is outdated at this point, but that is its raison d etre.
King James I did (Plantation of Ulster).
If he was a good Catholic, that was an example of him turning the other cheek and walking away from a cheap insult.
Good for him.
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