To Gay Groups, St. Patrick's Parade Ends an Era of Exclusion
Oddly enough, Dublin has had an anti-exclusion policy for years.
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/35804-to-gay-groups-st-patricks-parade-ends-an-era-of-exclusion
The nation's largest St. Patrick's Day parade kicked off Thursday in New York City, and for the first time in decades, gay activists are not decrying it as an exercise in exclusion.
The first of roughly 200,000 marchers began striding up Fifth Avenue just after 11 a.m. in a procession of throbbing pipes and drums, smiling dignitaries and waving flags.
As always, it was a celebration of Irish heritage, but this year's parade also stands to close a long chapter of controversy. A year after a limited easing of the parade's prohibition on gay groups, organizers now have opened the lineup more broadly to include activists who protested the ban for years.
"I never thought I'd see the day when I could march up Fifth Avenue in the St. Patrick's Day Parade with my husband," said Brendan Fay, chairman of the Lavender and Green Alliance, as the parade began. "When we started in 1991, after getting arrested so many times for protesting the parade, wow, what a moment this is."
Besides marking firsts, this year's parade also looks back, honoring the centennial of Ireland's Easter Rising against British rule. It is also being broadcast live in Ireland and the United Kingdom for the first time.
The grand marshal of the parade is former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell of Maine, who negotiated the Northern Ireland peace accord.