Gays Arrested at N.Y. St. Patrick’s Parade Protest
It was a splintered St. Patrick’s Day celebration Wednesday as the mayor stayed at home and more than 200 gay protesters were arrested for violating a court order.
About 120,000 people marched in the nation’s oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade, tens of thousands less than usual, and spectators along Fifth Avenue were rarely more than three deep. Organizers blamed the poor turnout on a constant drizzle.
More than an hour before the 232nd parade started, hundreds of marchers protesting the exclusion of Irish homosexuals staged a countermarch along Fifth Avenue, chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, homophobia has got to go.” When they encountered police, they knelt or squatted as officers handcuffed them and moved them into vans and buses.
In all, 228 people were arrested, most for violating the court order, including gay City Councilman Thomas Duane, who was cheered as he stepped into a police wagon.
A judge had ruled Tuesday that the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, which has battled for three years to be included in the main parade, could not stage a protest parade on the avenue.
Mayor David N. Dinkins boycotted the parade. Instead, he gave a breakfast and told guests that “a few small-minded individuals have soured this celebration with attitudes of intolerance and exclusion.”
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