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 ...
The man who wanted to lead the Nazi march on Skoki(defended by the ACLU) was a homosexual...
comparing homosexual activists to the KKK and Nazi's is not only appropriate it is historically consistent.
I see your point but realistically, the parade is just an excuse to get drunk. Green beer and all that...
Really? From what I've seen, its about a bunch of suburbanites getting extremely drunk on awful green beer and then taking Megan or Mary Margaret into the park for some sloppy kissing...
I'm the farthest thing from a gay activist, but, COME ON! Let's stop pretending that this is a "religious" parade. It's no more religious than Mardi Gras. Personally, I find the gays marching under their own banner less offensive than the Teamsters, who march every year. Besides, as I have pointed out on other threads, the REAL IRISH don't have a problem letting the queens march in their parade.
If this were TRULY a family event like the Thanksgiving Parade, or a religious event like the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel procession, I would agree that it would not be appropriate. But the Hibernians don't have a leg to stand on by keeping the Gay-Licks out for "moral reasons."
All Dunleavy did was get right to the point. The NYC St. Patrick's parade is a Roman Catholic religious festival. Those that openly support sodomy which is a sin ( regardless of what clinochhio has taught children) are NOT welcomed to parade under a banner that says "I support committing the sin of sodomy!" The queers ( their word not mine) don't want the Church to make its own rules. They are no pro choice.
If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Catholicism use the Bible as part of its curriculum? And doesn't the Bible have a chapter called "Exodus" which condemns homosexuality and incest? How can you say you're a homosexual and a Catholic? Wouldn't that be a contradiction?
Or a promotion.
This is a Roman Catholic parade and homosexual priests betrayed the Roman Catholic Church by molesting little boys whom were both Roman Catholic and Irish. So the answer to your question, (So, did gays persecute the Irish?) is an emphatic yes.
This is a Roman Catholic parade and homosexual priests betrayed the Roman Catholic Church by molesting little boys whom were both Roman Catholic and Irish. So the answer to your question, (So, did gays persecute the Irish?) is an emphatic yes.
These are unfair comparisons. Talk about apples and oranges.
If he wanted to be accurate, he would have compared them to pedophiles and beastialists.
good for him.
ummm no.
there's always people trying to stick any kind of threat to homos - but there's none that isn't stuck to heteros as well.
Homos shouldn't try to capture every parade but that's only homo activists - your standard homo is nothing more then an average guy. Get used to it. A certain percentage of men are gay. Have been - will always be - this is even true with mamals. There's nothing unnatural to it - nothing to brag about either.
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