Dear friends,
Thank you to those of you that signed on to the LGBTQ & allies letter calling for uniformed NYPD, FDNY and other NYC employees not to march in the homophobic 5th Avenue St. Patrick's Day parade.
Here's the good news:
Since the letter was released and reported, Mayor de Blasio has been repeatedly asked about the City's participation in the parade. He has stated that he will not be marching because the parade is not inclusive of members of the LGBTQ community. Dinkins was the last Mayor to boycott -- so this is great progress.
LGBTQ community organizers have met with both the Mayor's office and the Speaker of the NYC Council, Melissa Mark-Viverito. The Speaker made a historic announcement that there would be NO official City Council presence in the parade while the organizers continued to exclude members of the LGBTQ community.
And now for the bad:
Commissioner Bratton has unhesitatingly said he will march -- in fact, at the front of the parade with the antigay organizers. He hasn't responded to a letter written to him by many LGBTQ community members asking him to withdraw uniformed, official NYPD contingents and reject the open bigotry of the parade.
When the police and firefighters march in uniform, we believe they violate the City's human rights law, and send a message to the LGBTQ community that the NYPD and FDNY will continue to tolerate the culture of homophobia that so often shows up in those agencies, and makes us unsafe.
PLEASE HELP TO KEEP THE PRESSURE ON!
Join us in protesting at the 5th Ave St.
Patrick's Day parade. Elected officials from Ireland and
New York are refusing to march in the parade because it is such an
embarrassment. But thousands of uniformed NYPD cops and firefighters still march
in their uniforms.
Monday, March 17th, 10:30-12:30, between 56th & 57th St on the West side of 5th Ave
We'll have banners, hot beverages, and snacks. Please RSVP if you can, by clicking here! This is a
peaceful but difficult protest, so it really helps to know if we can
count on you to be there. Call (917)
517-3627 to reach us on the day of the protest.
Click here to sign the petition to
Commissioner Bratton: demand that the NYPD & the City follow
their own anti-discrimination policies, instead of trying to get around them
with "free speech" arguments.
Commissioner Bratton and the NYPD must seriously grapple with their racism
and homophobia. The St. Patrick's Day parade is one way to call attention to
recent policies and unresponsiveness to NYC communities -- including policies
that criminalize the homeless and continue racist policing tactics. Please
invite all of your friends, family and allies to this action and continue to
work in solidarity on fair policing.
Thank you so much for your support!
Thank you so much for your support!
- For background on this issue, read here.
A very interesting post about a protest about something I have never been inclined to read or even think about
ReplyDeleteGays and Lesbians demanding equal rights to march or not to march I am still not sure St Patrick is a catholic icon who was the saviour of people in Ireland who other wise might have went on to believe in mad things like lets say evolution God forbid
Even though the catholic church doesn’t support the theory that we all evolved they would have us believe that we were created 2000 years ago
So by deduction it would suggest that they are indeed stone mad
Which brings me to question what are the gays and lesbians actually protesting about or even against, do they want to be part of this club , am I to take from a link in the post that years ago when they were banned from marching that if they had been allowed march that everything would have been honky dorey
Procreation seems to be used as to the reason why the catholic church is completely against the rights of gays and lesbians to adopt and get married , here is were I got lost in the whole homophobic argument .
Gays and Lesbian want the same rights as everyone else
They want to have children , you don’t have the bits and pieces required cant be done sorry folks
They want to have a religious ceremony to cement their love for each other , why would they want to be part of a cult that hates them ????? Seems like they should start up their own cult that likes them
I would put all the religious orders including the Klu Klux Klan in the same group,
I some how cant envisage Tiger Woods protesting outside a Klan prayer meeting demanding to be let in to protest against prostitution ,
Maybe I have completely misunderstood what the Gays and Lesbians want but I am fairly sure I will be educated by people better versed than myself
evolution, i cant get away from it, help.
ReplyDeleteEvery person and group that wants to participate in the ST Patricks day march in New York should be allowed to do so-
ReplyDeleteHold the presses-
Just heard that the PSNI is taking part in that march for the first time this year -Lol-
its ok michael, gerry kelly is their mascot.
ReplyDeleteThat is correct NYC Patrick's Anti-Gay Day Parade will this year have PSNI officers marching alongside members of An Garda SÃochána. Also the Taoiseach! What a shower and display.
ReplyDeleteAll a bit SF and Tatchel - ish the way Gays seem to be forcing themselves into every festival and parade in order to bully others to accept them. Bit of a 'turn off' for me personally. Why can't they just join in as citizens? I mean Michaelhenry and the SF gang at the NY parade will hardly be asserting themselves as Brits will they, but they'll be there enjoying the event non the less.
ReplyDeleteIs the PSNI allowed to march as the PSNI? Why not the gays allowed to march as gay? Larry is it a case of them trying to bully their way in or being bullied out?
ReplyDeleteim marching under the heterosexual saordonian banner
ReplyDeleteLarry-
ReplyDeleteGays queers lesbian folk should be allowed on that march-and all of them will be marching-just not under their own banner-some of those who banned them are gay themselves-
They allow bent cops to march-
In the past ILGO (Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization) applied to participate with a banner, like the other 300 plus groups that march with a banner. The parade organizers (Hibs at that time)lied and said "waiting list" this "wait yer turn" that-but eventually were exposed for their anti-gay prejudice. Now twenty plus years later (parade organizers have moved the goal posts again!)and the parade is legally defined as a private religious event with an anti-gay message.
ReplyDeleteJ. F. Mulligan
Grouch
ReplyDeleteyou are way too PC there are no heterosexual 'normal' people any more. Only A-sexual.
MH
St Patrick's day is a celebration of Oirishness, not sure what being a 'queen' has to do with it.
AM
don't think the day should be hijacked as a focal point for sexual deviants.
Tiarna
ReplyDeleteFirst of I'd like to make clear that gay people can be the best people you could ever meet and that they are gay is no more relevant than what anyone else does in their bedroom.
I am however not keen on having G/L march in many event especially that can be family/kids orientated. As completely sane and reasonable as they can be --mention parade or march and you are telling with an entirely different species. Their idea of a parade or march is to turn up dressed as the most provocative new york hooker, gyrate and mock butt fuck or simulate giving blow jobs. So I can understand why they might not be welcome and they shouldn't blame anyone else for their own behaviour. I would expect to get arrested it I behaved like that with my wife anywhere were there are children.
It is sad that they wont/shouldn't be there --at least not openly as themselves.
Homophobia is irreconcilable with republicanism,grades of citizenship is what we are trying to replace. There is an interview online of Bernadette Devlin lamenting the casual racism of Irish Americans when she visited there, this is just another impediment that needs to be smashed.
ReplyDeleteOn a less serious note , that "bent cops" comment has made me laugh a lot.Brilliant wordplay.
Larry,
ReplyDeletedidn't seem as if there were any sexual deviants (who I presume are people who deviate from consensual sex). They should be told to claer off. It looked to me to be a group asserting that it is as Irish as the next group and should be included.
Tiarna,
I am sure there are laws on the day which can be applied to lawbreaking. Moving against the body as a collective seems more like discrimination. I think the parade organisers are within their rights to say that mock gay blow jobs are no more acceptable than straight mock blow jobs and ban that type of behaviour. Either of the two is not what I would want my kids to see at a parade. Might be alright at a Gay Pride parade but not at something that has a strong child dimension.
I think we have more to fear from the cop's truncheon than the gay man's truncheon.
DaithiD,
I recall Bernadette giving a strong account of that. But the former blanketmen out campaigning for the hunger strikers reported a similiar experience, I believe.
AM
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tiarna on this one. I have a vision of gays on previous parades using them as opportunities for being as extremely weird/fucked-up and in your face as they can make it. Gays per say are not an issue, but it's old ground here and I wouldn't be taking young kids to look at those freaks. SPOILERS.
maybe a string of floats exhibiting ALL sexual preferences should be on display? Bring them round the primary schools too sure while you're at it. Only people making gays stand out as different in public IS THEM!
ReplyDeleteFFS DON'T go to the RIGHT to reproduce/have kids issue.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Larry,
ReplyDeleteI don't like the in your face type either. LIke yourself I have limited patience for them. But the gay extroverts are really not all that different from punks or whatever fad comes along and gets termed obnoxious. If it is only their dress that makes them deviant, then it is a matter of taste and nothing for us to get excited about.
Wouldn't allow my own kids to be treated or taught by somebody with a burka, a Ku Klux Klan hood or a Halloween mask. But that's because I don't want my kids dealing with hooded people.
Larry,
ReplyDeletedifferent is not lesser. We are different in our own way from lots of others. Nothing wrong with being different. If there was this blog wouldn't exist!
AM
ReplyDeleteThere's a certain contradiction in a 'pride' of their gayness/difference and them trying to force society to treat them as 'the same' as everyone else.
Gays....sexual preferences and-or religious views are not an issue until someone makes it so. Will you defend a Muslim females 'right' to be treated as equal/same and thus educate your children in a burka? What's the difference?
you are sounding as selective as the USA/UK on referendums.
St. Patricks day parades are not the place for sexual displays of any sort in my view.
Larry,
ReplyDeletenot being denied the same rights for merely being different is a great idea. That's the whole point: no exclusion on the grounds of having a different identiy, whether it be sexual, racial or religious. Black people asserting the same rights for black people who are a different colour from white people seems a pretty sound idea.
I would assert the right of a Muslim woman to have the same rights as me. My objection to the burka is the same as a Halloween mask or a KKK hood, or a cop in a balaclava - my children have a right to facial recognition of those they are dealing with. The Musli woman can practice her religion on herself but not on me, you or our kids.
AM
ReplyDeleteSo what happens when a few gay leprechauns on parade start butt fucking and blow-jobbing on a float down 5th Avenue? Explain that all nice an PC to the kiddies. Not to mention the international tourists who travelled to be there. There's an onus (not an anus) on the parade committee I suspect to make it a day for the family.
The 'Queens' let themselves down.
Larry,
ReplyDeleteI think I addressed that point in response to Tiarna. But that's me for the evening - True Detective is the viewing and I am not getting distracted by the quill!
'sweet dreams' lol
ReplyDeleteHave you watched it? It is something else. Really good.
ReplyDeletetrue defective? what station??
ReplyDeleteim straight and im proud.
ReplyDeleteThis is about who we are: identity politics. This is not about what I "do", or what someone else "doesn't do". I am a gay man proud of my Irish heritage and should be treated exactly as everyone else that wants to celebrate Irishness. Collapsing Irish identity, values and culture as Roman Catholic is dishonest and problematic. Furthermore, it is worth noting the conservative nature of the NYC parade that has historically prevented and silenced Irish Republican participation. (eg. Bloody Sunday Campaigners, Hunger Strike Committee, Friends or Roisin McAliskey, etc.)
ReplyDeleteJ. F. Mulligan
Grouch
ReplyDeleteno banner for you either!!
larry,
ReplyDeletemy gay friends hate me.
Some of the comments in this thread show exactly why banners asserting gay participation are needed, when sexual orientation is no longer an issue there will be no need for banners. For the record I'm against heavy petting between any adults around children, we wouldn't exclude heterosexuals on the basis of preventing it though.
ReplyDeleteFrom Sandy Boyer
ReplyDeleteThe Parade Committee has cancelled their invitation to the PSNI as a result of the vast uproar they faced since the news leaked out on Thursday.
The question is why did the Parade, i.e. John Dunleavy, invite them in the first place?
This is the same outfit that had people arrested for carrying a civil rights banner, kicked portraits of the 10 hunger strikers out of the parade, banned chants for Joe Doherty while ostensibly honoring him and, of course, banned gay people from marching with banners identifying their organizations.
What will they do next time?
NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade, Inc.
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Recently, at the request of the Counsel General of Ireland, the NYC Saint Patrick's Day Parade Committee extended an invitation to six members... of the PSNI to march in the 2014 NYC Saint Patrick's Day Parade. The contingent planned to march side by side with the An Garda SÃochána as a symbol of solidarity. However, many of our loyal supporters and parade participants passionately advocated against the PSNI's participation.
The people of New York City have supported our parade for many generations. While the decision to invite the PSNI was made in an effort to foster peace, we must stand behind those who help make our parade the greatest in the world. Therefore we have rescinded the invitation and the PSNI will not march in the New York City Saint Patrick's Day Parade.
We thank those who wrote in to express concern and we look forward to seeing all of you on March 17th!
So the good people of New York have rescinded the invitation given to 6 members of the PSNI to march in the St Patrick’s day parade , how when were or what do these people get off on , was it not the very same democrats that sent an envoy to Ireland to conduct and supervise talks to bring peace to Ireland . We were told that we would have to accept thing that might be unpalatable but in the interest of peace we should suck it up, the PSNI being such an item. But like the democrats in the Republic, New York parades committee decided that what is good for us is bad for them, what a bunch of fucking hypocrites. The reason that the invite was rescinded is not some noble gesture to the nationalists of the North but more like we can’t upset the capitalists that found our city
ReplyDelete"when sexual orientation is no longer an issue there will be no need for banners."
ReplyDeletedo we let the people who are oriented to have sex with animals march - that guy that was in love with his horse on gerry springer a few years back, what do we say to him when he wants to ride bareback at the head of the parade.
now that would be heavy petting.
Grouch,
ReplyDeletethere is no right for a human to have sex with an animal. There is every right for a human to have sex with another human of consensual age and consensual intent.
Boyne Rover,
ReplyDeleteI am really pleased that they have been banned. What it wil help do is remind people that a partisan force - determined to politically and tendentiously police the past, that has never hauled one RUC torturer or prison screw in for questioning about serious institutional abuse, that wants to drive political critique and media scrutiny of its repressive activities off the street (as with Stephen Murney for example) - is still in existence.
It is also egg on SF's face. Sucking the truncheon for years and now it faces the ignominy of a serious slap down.
Sexualised leprechaun flotillas and buggered horses in one thread , this has to be an internet first. I think it's a serious subject but I can't stop laughing either.
ReplyDeletewhos sucking the truncheon now
ReplyDeleteAM
ReplyDeleteGOOD FOR NY!!
McGuinness on Aljazeera last night was totally afraid to be critical of USA/UK foreign policy. As 'terrorists' were identified as those deliberately targeting civilians a Palastinian stated the USA were by definition terrorists. A yank said the USA never did that and was promptly asked about napalm....no need to go to two nukes (audience were in stitches!!) Marty boy could only 'lament' Iraq and Afghanistan were a 'disaster'. I thought he was going to ask for a Kleenex he was so sad!
BOUGHT AND SOLD SF are, he was like oul Gerry Fitt getting wheeled out to tell other revolutionaries.... GIVE IN and be GOOD!
Grouch
ReplyDeletedon't worry about the 'queens' they hi-jacked the leprechaun rainbow now they want the entire parade!!
Watching it now Larry
ReplyDeleteTrue Detective is a Sky output - part 4 is on tonight but you need to watch it from the start
AM
ReplyDeleteas a mere 'pleb' I shall have to suffice with Horatio and CSI Miami and FBI Files.
larry,
ReplyDeletewe're boycotting the paddys day shenanigans in saordonia this year, nothin to do with the gays, its a protest at the drunken slobfest it has turned into now, sick of puke now after 7 years taxiing, i think u know my pain a cara.
yes indeed I do, cupla yrs research into the torys, da aristocracy and geligmanite mite help the miners widows im finkin. (gud oul geliga mi nite).... but da loiks a MH wud hang ye fer that then luk yer mammys vote....
ReplyDeleteam I wrong?
Grouch
ReplyDeletesure do amego, the rugby was my bet today in the house....the boozers can sling there overheads lol0
am i still straight if i want to be the meat in a lesbian sandwich. confused about my sexuality now.
ReplyDeleteskinheads with tattoos piercings and bovver-boots? you sure Grouch ?? careful what ye wish for!!
ReplyDeleteGrouch
ReplyDeletenot to mention the 'strapadicktomes' mmmwwwhaha
Guinness pulls out of New York's St Patrick's Day parade over gay rights
ReplyDeletewho owns guinness, are they an irish company anymore, did their marketing people come up with this, get the lucrative pink pound and all that - wudnt be surprised now if they make the most of this, anyway anthony i couldnt be arsed if everybody pulled out of patricks day slobfest at this stage....if i was a little green man (no pun intended) from another planet and came whizzin to this part of the universe on 17 march and wanted to know what was going on with all these green parades all over the planet and wanted to find out more about the country behind it all and decided to land here and go incognito in a leprechaun outfit, id be very disappointed except for the odd decent saordonian gael id meet here and there. the irish can fuck off now as far as we are concerned here in saordonia. good for nothing except selling ur country to the LOWEST bidder and not standing up for ur bros and sis in north and just being all round celtic tiger shoulder to shoulder multi-mortgage west brit arseholes now. and then go all over the world sayin how great it is to be irish. cop urselves on u shower of numptys. big fatskinny drunken shower of yahoos today. Saordonians will respect this day and pray to the great saint for protection from drunken irish slobs, sleeveens, shoneens and gombeens.
ReplyDeletesorry, i forgot to say happy st patricks day to all the TPQers
ReplyDeleteGrouch
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT post