Even with shift, NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade draws gay protests
Gay rights activists and elected officials said on Tuesday they would continue to protest New York City's main St. Patrick's Day parade even as organizers prepared to let a gay group carry a banner this year for the first time in the parade's history.
The problem, they say, is that the group, an organization of gay NBCUniversal employees, does not represent gay Irish-American people at an event that marks the most prominent celebration of Irish heritage in the United States.
“The issue has never been about having a gay group in the parade,” Daniel Dromm, a City Council member, said at a news conference outside City Hall where he was joined by Irish Queers, a group that has organized annual protests of the parade. “It has always been about having an Irish gay group in the parade. For the parade organizers to try to pull this trickery by allowing an organization called OUT@NBC to march in the parade is not a solution.”
Read more at reuters.com
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