The nation’s largest gay rights group said Monday that it is applying to have a contingent march in the 2015 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City.
A group of gay NBC employees, OUT@NBCUniversal, has been approved to join the March 17 parade, the Human Rights Campaign said to parade organizers in a letter.
“HRC urges the parade organizers to consider its application as well as those of other LGBT groups, including Irish Queers, which has long fought to be included in the iconic event,” wrote Fred Sainz, vice president of communications and marketing for the group, which represents lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The letter, Mr. Sainz said, should be considered “our application to have an Irish-American contingent from the Human Rights Campaign march in the 2015 parade.”
As a result of organizers’ decision to lift a ban on gay rights groups, the Catholic League withdrew from the parade after 20 years. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic civil rights group, said he had understood that if a gay rights group was permitted to march, a pro-life Catholic group also would be able to.
“They not only told me one thing and did another, they decided to include a gay group that is neither Catholic nor Irish while stiffing pro-life Catholics,” Mr. Donohue said last week when he announced the league’s decision not to march.
At least three other gay rights groups in New York, including Irish Queers, have applied to march.
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade, held in New York City since 1762, honors the patron saint of Ireland and the Archdiocese of New York. It draws as many as 250,000 marchers and 2 million observers, and is televised live by WNBC.
• Cheryl Wetzstein can be reached at cwetzstein@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.