New York St. Patrick’s Parade Accused of Bias Against Gays

The city Human Rights Commission filed a complaint Friday against organizers of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, charging them with discrimination for barring a lesbian and gay group from the event last year.

The move was seen as an effort to get the parade committee to allow the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization to march in this year’s parade on March 17.

Mayor David N. Dinkins said at a City Hall news conference that the commission wants the parade committee to “cease and desist from discriminatory practices” and establish a selection process that complies with city human rights laws.

The Ancient Order of Hibernians, which puts on the parade, said Tuesday that the group would not be allowed to march this year because of “outrageous behavior” it displayed last year. They did not specify the behavior.

Last year, organizers denied the group’s application to participate on grounds that the parade already was too long. Members of the group ended up marching with a division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Dinkins marched with them to show his support.

He said New Yorkers “watched in disbelief and horror as a group of sons and daughters of the Emerald Isle who happen to be lesbian and gay were met with jeers, insults and even hurled cans of beer.”

“This city should not have to endure another such display of hatred and ignorance,” Dinkins said Friday.

The commission seeks to have an administrative judge oversee the parade’s selection process for participants, Dinkins said.

“We’ve run the St. Patrick’s Day Parade for 230 years without an administrative judge to tell us who could march in the parade,” said George Clough, national Hibernians chairman. He said the group was prepared for a legal battle.

Clough added that he did not think human rights laws applied to religious organizations. He said the Ancient Order of Hibernians was founded 156 years ago to protect the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church and its teachings.