Gay group will march in New York St Patrick’s Day Parade
The move is understood to have come about because of efforts by gay staff at broadcaster NBC to be allowed to march in the parade under their own banner. NBC is traditionally the broadcaster of the event and it had been claimed that management at the station had threatened to refuse to cover the parade unless the NBC staffers were accommodated.
Guinness had previously removed its sponsorship of the event and this year, Democratic Mayor, Bill de Blasio had also refused to take part over the organisers’ decision to only allow gay people to march in the parade alongside other groups and not under their own banner.
That position has been reversed, with a statement saying that while it was “staying loyal to its church leanings”, the new stance meant that its “change of tone and expanded inclusiveness is a gesture of goodwill to the LGBT community in our continuing effort to keep the parade above politics”.
Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, has already been selected as the Grand Marshall of next year’s parade and was quoted as saying: “Neither my predecessors as Archbishop of New York nor I have ever determined who would or would not march in this parade.”
Other LGBT groups have been told they can apply to march in future parades.
The group OUT@NBC Universal had sought to march in the parade under its own banner and its efforts resulted in a unanimous vote in favour of them being granted their wish by the organisers.
Yesterday, on its Twitter page, it said: “We are proud to be the 1st #LGBT group to march in NYC St Patrick’s Day parade.”
Craig Robinson, executive vice president and chief diversity officer at NBC Universal, welcomed the decision as a “gesture of inclusion”, adding: “Our employees, families and friends look forward to joining in this time-honoured celebration of Irish culture.”
The parade takes place on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
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