Justice Allows Gay Marchers, but Parade Off

Sponsors officially canceled this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade after U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter cleared the way Wednesday for a gay group to participate.

Without comment, Souter denied an emergency request for intervention from the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, the parade’s sponsor.

“This year’s parade, with my client’s traditional values, has been utterly destroyed,” said Chester Darling, the group’s attorney.

Darling said he would appeal Souter’s decision to the full U.S. Supreme Court, but the appeal will be too late to save Sunday’s parade. The city will sponsor the parade next year and gay groups will be allowed to participate.

“It is gratifying to know bigotry is against the law in this country,” said David O’Connor, spokesman for the Gay, Lesbian Irish Bisexual Group. “The sooner the veterans realize that, the sooner we can have a parade we can all enjoy.”

O’Connor said Boston’s controversy does not exist in Ireland, where homosexuals are marching with little complaint or fanfare in parades in Dublin and Cork.

Darling argued that the veterans group had a First Amendment right to decide who was to march in the 90-year-old parade, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that parades are public events covered by a state law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.