Boston Parade Spectators Jeer Gay Marchers

Some spectators lobbed smoke bombs and beer cans at two dozen Irish-American gay activists Sunday as they marched, draped in green and armed with a court order, in a St. Patrick’s Day parade.

“You can’t keep an Irishman down,” said Brian Thomas Callahan, who held one end of a gay pride group’s shamrock-adorned banner.

Some spectators jeered and others threw things at gay marchers, who wore pink triangles and green carnations. They responded by shouting “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”

“It’s a great amount of hate,” said Dave O’Connor, part of the gay contingent. “I’m Irish, I’m from Ireland, I should bloody well be allowed to march.”

A judge last week ordered organizers to admit gays to the parade through the heavily Irish-American neighborhood of South Boston.

The Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Pride Committee agreed to limit marchers to 25, use only one banner and refrain from distributing fliers.

Mounted police acted as a buffer between marchers and the crowd of about 600,000 people. Motorcycle police cruised alongside, and a police van filled with officers followed behind.

Police said at least six people were arrested, including one spectator, after a fistfight broke out in the crowd as the gay contingent passed.

Some spectators tossed tiny firecrackers known as “party snappers” at the marchers, but they were not powerful enough to harm anyone.

Spectator Paul Palombi, 50, of Boston said the gay marchers should have stayed home because the event was a military parade organized by a veterans organization ahead of the Tuesday holiday.

Claudia Vanputten, 43, of Boston disagreed. “Everybody’s the same,” she said. “They shouldn’t be treated any different.”

It was the first time in the Boston parade’s 91-year history that an openly gay group has marched under its own banner.