A time-honored tradition of excluding gay groups from the New York St. Patrick’s Day parade crumbles this week. The New York Times reminds that for decades, “gays could march but were not allowed to carry anything identifying them as a group.” As first reported by the Irish Voice, OUT@NBCUniversal will be the first LGBT group to participate in the parade on March 17th, 2015 and will be “accompanied by other participants who would also like to identify as gay.” Other groups may apply in the future.
Mayor Bill de Blasio became the first mayor in twenty years not to march in the parade last year, unlike Giuliani and Bloomberg who participated annually. The landmark decision was announced today, following de Blasio’s threat to boycott the parade once more, and due to various pressures and pull-outs from sponsors and public disapproval of ye olde discriminatory policies. The other time-honored decision of getting shitfaced will continue as scheduled. (Photo: @hansziel)
