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Homophobic St. Patrick's Day Parade Chair Gets The Boot
By
Emma Whitford
Published Jul 1, 2015
Modified Jul 1, 2015
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By
Emma Whitford
Published Jul 1, 2015
Modified Jul 1, 2015
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The St. Patrick's Day Parade and Pride don't have very much in common: The same Mayor who boycotted the former, broke out a festive tie for the latter; the only rainbows you're likely to see on Fifth Avenue on St. Patrick's Day are hoisted by protestors; and we're pretty sure cops don't get down quite so jubilantly for St. Paddy.
But, as of Tuesday, the St. Patrick's Day Parade is a bit less explicitly homophobic (and we're not talking about the decision to welcome one gay group in 2014): Irish Central reports that the parade's board of directors has ousted longtime parade chair John Dunleavy.
At the ripe old age of 78, and after 22 years as the parade's Head Influencer, it seems Dunleavy was long overdue for retirement. In fact, in the wake of last week's historic gay marriage ruling—which confirmed for brands and politicians alike that gay marriage is cool and lucrative—Dunleavy held firm that, come St. Paddy's 2016, he'd rather not have any LGBTQ presence whatsoever. If that meant cutting ties with parade broadcaster NBC, so be it.
Not even the combined influences of Cardinal Dolan, Guinness, Heineken, the Irish government and Bill de Blasio could sway him, Irish Central reports. No, no, Dunleavy insisted, gay groups hoping to sign up next year would “have a problem."
“The parade itself is not there to promote anybody’s particular agenda in any way, shape or form,” he reasoned. “The parade represents our faith, our heritage and our culture, nothing more and nothing less. So we’re going to keep to that, and anybody who wants to mix that up is going to have a problem next year.”
For a rebuttal, we'll turn to one puzzled 2014 parade attendee: "Come on, it's the 21st century!"
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irish queers
LGBTQ
st. patrick's day
st. patrick's day parade
Emma Whitford
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