John Dunleavy
Top o' the mornin' to you – unless, of course, you're gay.
Once again, New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade was kept free of homosexuals mucking things up with their light-in-the-loafers mincing.
Of course, this isn't surprising seeing as the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization has been barred from marching in the parade for 16 straight (pun intended) years and a federal judge ruled that parade organizers – the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-Catholic group – could do so on the grounds of religious freedom.
I wasn't aware that hating gays was a religion.
What made this year's denial exceptionally egregious were remarks by the parade's chairman, John Dunleavy. "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?" he asked the Irish Times.
My, my. Them are fightin' words.
But one doesn't have to look very hard at Dunleavy's remarks to understand the logic he's working with. If Neo-Nazis hate Jews and the KKK hates African-Americans, then gays hate… the Irish?
Could it be the LGBT community is anti-Irish – an anti-Irish hate group, even? All this time, has "LGBT Pride" been code for "Smite the Irish"? This would explain why there are no gay Irish, just as there are no gay Christians.
But Dunleavy had more to say on the issue. "People have rights," he said (stomping his foot, I assume). "If we let the ILGO in, is it the Irish Prostitute Association next?"
Hmmm… So apparently gays hate the Irish, but gays will have sex with the Irish for money.
Needless to say, many found Dunleavy's remarks upsetting. Openly gay City Council leader and Irishwoman Christine Quinn refused to march in the parade. "I can't deny who I am on any given day," she said.
ILGO wasn't very pleased with the politicians who chose to march anyway, including Sen. Hillary Clinton and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"Many others have stood with us for justice, boycotted the parade or simply stayed away," read a statement released by the group.
When asked about his remarks before the start of the parade, Dunleavy said, "Today is St. Patrick's Day. We celebrate our faith and heritage; everything else is secondary."
Easy for him to say. Unlike ILGO, Dunleavy wasn't stuck behind police barricades while the self-proclaimed "real Irish" marched on.
"Like queers in other NYC immigrant populations – Indian, Pakistani, Polish, Puerto Rican and others – Irish Queers have been forced to struggle for respect not only with our own community, but with the NYPD, courts and city officials who shore up the forces of anti-gay discrimination," ILGO said in their statement.
Contact the Ancient Order of Hibernians President Ned McGinley at [email protected] and tell him what you think about including discrimination in a celebration of "faith and heritage."
