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March 17, 2006
After Parade Chairman Links Gays to Nazis and KKK, Lesbian City Leader Boycotts St. Pat's Day Parade
Posted at March 17, 2006 09:58 AM in Gay & Lesbian Issues .
John Dunleavy, chairman for the St. Patrick's Day parade, made controversial and inflammatory remarks yesterday. In an interview in The Irish Times, Dunleavy was quoted as saying, "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?" This he said after Christine C. Quinn, New York City Council Speaker and a lesbian, boycotted the 245th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade because she wanted to "wear a symbol like a gay-pride pin, button or sash while marching alongside council members and gay supporters," but parade organizers would not hear of it.
Quinn said she had hoped to reach a middle ground "in which gay men and lesbians could take part in a 'respectful and dignified fashion that allowed them to be visible.'"
"I'm sad that we were not able to come to some place of commonality that could start a healing process as it relates to the parade," Quinn said. "You know, that said, I remain hopeful that in the near future we will find that day." [Read More]
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