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The luck of the Irish extended to Sunnyside Sunday, where participants and spectators of the 11th-annual St. Pat’s for All Parade were treated to warm temperatures down the parade route.

The parade was started in 2000 in protest against the Manhattan St. Patrick’s Day Parade down Fifth Avenue, which does not allow gays and lesbians to march.

Brendan Fay, one of the Queens parade’s organizers, said this year’s event drew double the number of the participants in the previous one.

Just about every Queens elected official attended the gathering and expressed their support for the parade’s spirit.

“It’s wonderful to support St. Patrick’s Day in a parade that includes everyone,” said U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria), who put emphasis on the word “everyone.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the event “is one of the fun parades.”

“This is the kind of parade that every parade should be — open to everyone. Period, end of story,” he said.

The parade featured everything from bagpipe bands to fire engines and Bolivian dancers.

Bob Lesko, a political activist from Manhattan, said he prefers the Sunnyside parade because it embodies more of the Irish spirit.

“I find this parade, with all its constituent groups, so much a part of my Irish roots — being progressive,” he said. “It reflects what happens in Ireland — gays and lesbians march in every parade.”

Catherine Moore, who moved from Dublin to Sunnyside 23 years ago, said the parade reminded her of her youth in Ireland.

“This is huge in comparison” to the Manhattan parade, she said. “This is like something you’d see in Ireland. It’s very relaxed and very Irish. Even in Dublin, where in Manhattan it’s very staged.”

Moore brought her sons, Oisin, 10, and Cian, 12, to the parade.

“It’s just fun to come out and listen to the music,” Cian said.

Oisin said he got a thrill from the bagpipe bands.

“I just enjoy watching all the people go around,” he said.

Chris Connelly of Flushing said the Sunnyside event is the only “normal” parade in the city.

He screamed at U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills), who was marching along the parade route, asking him to run for governor.

“You’d wish that on me?” Weiner quipped.

Victoria Campos, 6, of New Jersey said she got a kick out of the Bolivian dancers, fire engines and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Ray Ferdinand of Sunnyside said he was drawn to the parade’s diversity.

“I like the mix,” he said. “I thought it would be all Irish, but it’s people from everywhere getting down and that’s wonderful.”

Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.

Dromm leads annual ‘St. Pat’s For All’ parade

Sunnyside and Woodside celebrate the 11th annual St. Pat's For All Parase on Sunday March 7

Queens Courier

March 10, 2010

By Camille Bautista

Shamrocks and green streamers blew in the wind alongside rainbow flags, as Queens celebrated its 11th annual St. Pat’s For All Parade & Fair in Sunnyside and Woodside.

Gays, lesbians, Latinos, Tibetans, Native Americans, Haitians, and many more diverse organizations came out on Sunday March 7 and joined Queens’ Irish community to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in an all-inclusive parade. Created in 2000 as an alternative to the Fifth Avenue ceremonies, which do not allow gays to participate, this parade welcomes all with the theme of “cherishing all children of the nation equally.”

“Our St Pat’s For All 2010 is a generous coming together of businesses, communities and musicians who for a few hours turn the streets of Sunnyside and Woodside into an ‘Ireland of the welcomes,’” said Brendan Fay, co-founder and co-chair of the parade. “Hospitality is at the heart of this inclusive St. Patrick’s celebration, which welcomes the diverse immigrant communities of Queens, as well as gay contingents.”

The ceremonies opened with Native American and Catholic prayers. The grand marshal, Councilmember Daniel Dromm, was joined by political and community leaders draped in Irish flags and beads, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and Comptroller John Liu.

From 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., participants marched from 43rd Street along Skillman Avenue to 61st Street and Woodside Avenue, carrying banners, playing bagpipes, beating conga drums and dancing in cultural costumes. The number of participants doubled from last year, according to Fay. Among the organizations were Dignity USA, a group for gay, lesbian, and transgender Catholics, the Keltic Dreams Irish Dancers – a group of black, Latino and South Asian students from P.S. 59 in the Bronx, and the San Simon Bolivian dance group.

“It’s something different and new, something exciting to get involved in,” said Denise Jones, Social Director of the South Queens Boys and Girls Club, an organization that has been marching in the parade for the past three years. “The kids really enjoy it and we’ve made it a part of us, something that we do every year.”

Mexican organizations also showed their support, as they honor Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Irishmen who helped Mexico fight against U.S. invasion in the 1800s.

“We like to march in this parade every year because it is fun and something good to be a part of,” said Patricia Hernandez, president of the Comite Civico Mexicano and creator of the first Mexican Day Parade in Manhattan.

Though faced with a few protestors in the sea of green spectators, many felt and considered this celebration a stepping stone in progress towards an all-embracing future.

“We’ve always been angry that the parade in the city has not allowed gay people to march openly,” said Sherry Rogers, secretary of the Brooklyn-Queens Chapter of the National Organization for Women. “This is everything that we stand for, a parade that is open to everybody where people are able to express themselves.”

St Pat's Day Parade Growing In Stature

Queens Buzz

March 08, 2010

Sunnyside & Woodside / March 8, 2010. By all accounts the St Pat's Day Parade in Sunnyside and Woodside was a big success. We estimate that on this fine day the audience count was easily in the thousands [two to three thousand is our estimate]. This was significantly up verus last year, quite possibly due to the nice sunny weather which included temperatures in the fifties, although there was a cool breeze.

The St Pat's For All Parade in Sunnyside and Woodside has been in existence for eleven years now. It's interesting to note that the parade legacy only goes back little more than a decade, given that Sunnyside and Woodside were considered the Irish sections of Queens for the better part of the last century.

The parade began out of a controversy in the late nineties. The Manhattan St Pat's Day Parade forbid non-heterosexuals to march in their New York City parade. Click here to read the rest of this story including a slide show and a link to our album for the St Pat's Day Parade photos 2010 in Sunnyside and Woodside.

Parade Embraces Human Diversity

Sunnyside & Woodside / March 8, 2010. Continued from the Sunnyside Front Page.

It's ironic that the New York City St Pat's parade took a more narrow view of things, while the small, local town of Sunnyside in Queens took a more open approach to the parade. But I suppose, given that Sunnyside is located smack dab in the middle of the great American melting pot [Queens], where all peoples of the world meet, live and work side by side, perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising.

Actually, in many ways, Queens is far more ethnically and economically diverse than Manhattan, and in those respects as well as others, Queens is far more cosmopolitan than Manhattan. The discriminatory practices of the St Pat's Day Parade in Manhattan is only one such example.

St Pat's For All Parade - Originations & History

The St Pat's For All Parade takes its cue from the Proclamation Of The Irish Republic on Easter of 1916. Within the Proclamation it stated that its intent was "cherishing all children of the nation equally". As you will note while viewing the photos, included in the parade are Latin and Asian groups.

Here's a slide show of the parade, including some of the pre-event speech making by the City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Comptroller John Liu, and a couple of the newly elected city council men, Jimmy Van Bramer of Sunnyside and Daniel Dromm of Jackson Heights.

To speed up viewing, simply click on the forward arrow to select the next photo. Or click here to go directly into the St Pat's Day Parade 2010 Sunnyside Woodside photo album.

A history of the parade, including other information about the event organizers, how to participate in the parade and how to contribute to the parade may be obtained by clicking this link to the St Pat's For All website. Click here to view a St Pat's Day Parade Route map.

The St. Pat’s For All Parade Marches to a Haitian Beat

The Wall Street Journal

Marh 07, 2010

By Gwen Orel

The wearing of the green, bagpipers in kilts, Irish stepdancers…and the sounds of a Haitian rara band.

The St. Pat’s For All Parade, beginning at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue in Queens at 1 p.m. today, includes a Haitian contingent this year. The parade welcomes the homosexual community officially banned from the Fifth Avenue St. Patrick’s Day parade run by the Hibernian Society. It has always been multicultural: Chileans have marched since the parade began in 2000 (Bernardo O’Higgins, one of the founding fathers of independent Chile, was half-Irish).

As for inviting the Haitians, “As Irish people we know about famine and immigration and death, it’s in our psyche,” explains Brendan Fay, who co-chairs the parade, with Kathleen D’Arcy (Fay is also one of its founders).

Concern Worldwide’s Susan Finuchne, an early responder in Haiti, will address the crowd. The Irish-based international humanitarian organization has been in Haiti since 1994, employing 250 nationals there.

Says Leslie Victor, who will carry the Haitian flag, “The Irish are from an island, and we are from an Island too. We were occupied by the French; they were occupied by the British. I am Catholic. St. Patrick is Catholic.” And, “You have to get up and dance when you hear a rara band, no matter where you come from.”

Bolivians will march for the first time, and Peruvians carrying an image of Roger Casement. Before he was executed in 1916, the Irish patriot wrote passionately about the abuses of natives in rubber plantations.

“There’s tension in our community over who to include and exclude,” says Fay. “Let’s have tea for everybody.”

Astoria Characters: The Proud Parader

The Huffington Post

March 03, 2010

By Nancy McCRuhling

The kettle is on the stove, the cats are on the couch, the St. Pat's statue is on the table, and Brendan Fay is elbow-deep in the paperwork and politics of parade preparations.

As Brendan knows only too well, March is Irish season in New York, the time when the city shows its true colors. In the palette of Brendan's St. Pat's for All Parade & Fair, the hues run not only to the orange and the green but also to every color of the rainbow.

"Parades are very important community cultural events," says Brendan, a human-rights activist/documentary filmmaker who is a frequent spokesman for the gay and lesbian community. "They allow us to celebrate our uniqueness and show that we belong. The Irish have always prided themselves on being a hospitable people, which is why this hurts so much."

"This" refers to the fact that the famed Manhattan St. Patrick's Day Parade excludes gays and lesbians. Brendan and his peers were allowed to march on Fifth Avenue only once -- in 1991 with then-Mayor David Dinkins. "Most people remember the jeers, but I remember the cheers," he says. "It changed my life because it allowed me to come out in a very public way and to unite the three significant parts of my life -- Irish, Catholic and gay."

After getting arrested more times than he can remember for "crashing" the parade -- "the police knew me so well that they used to say, 'I guess you'll be our house guest again this St. Patrick's'" -- he co-founded Queens' St. Pat's for All, the parade with the biggest heart, the mightiest message and the slimmest support.

Brendan, an elfish man with a sweet smile, has a heart bigger than the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If he has a fault, it's that he's kind to a fault. He's been known to stop work to counsel the neighborhood's down on their luck, and once, when he was working at a soup kitchen, he was chastised for giving someone two tins of tuna instead of the quota of one. Then there are the cats: Every stray strays his way, and he never turns any away.

Brendan wears his Catholic Irishness like a prize medal. He was born in Athy, a small town in County Kildare, in 1958 and moved to the town of Drogheda when he was 10. He was what the Irish called a working-class lad but what Americans would classify as Angela's Ashes poor. His dad toiled in an asbestos factory while his mother stayed at home to care for him, his older brother and five sisters.

At age 8, he went to work. "I packed spuds at the local grocery," he says. "My payment was an orange drink and a bag of potato crisps called Taytos. In the summers, I worked on a fruit farm. In my spare time, I hung out at the convent; the Sisters of Mercy had an enormous impact on my life for good."

The "religious lad" in the family, he joined the Irish Christian Brothers at 14. "I was told to be totally honest in confession, and I told the priests I was thinking about sex and that I had an attraction for other guys," he says. "So they told me I could not be a brother and made me leave."

Devastated, he traveled to Dublin, where he took a succession of humble jobs that included waiting on tables at a fancy gentleman's club and helping out at a center for handicapped children.

"I enjoyed and was frightened by my freedom," he says. "And I started exploring the gay scene, even though it was a criminal offense in the 1970s to be a homosexual. I was closeted, fearful and full of self-hate, so I went to priests who tried to heal me and make me straight. I also learned activism from the nuns and priests in Ireland."

While studying theology at St. Patrick's College in Maynooth, Brendan met a visiting American professor who encouraged him to apply to St. John's University for graduate studies.

In 1984, at the height of the AIDS crisis, Brendan and his backpack arrived in New York City for what he thought would be only a two-year stay.

"I had longed to get out of Ireland because as a gay man, I needed breathing space," he says. "New York made me feel like a mouse next to an elephant. Everything was huge. There were pancakes every day and big buildings and so many gorgeous men!"

After graduation, he took a job teaching religion at the Mary Louis Academy, a Catholic girls' high school in Jamaica, and took up a steady stool in every Irish pub and gay club he could find. "Once I started drinking, I couldn't stop," he says, adding he has been sober for more than two decades. "It was a way of coping with being gay and staying silent about it."

But his actions became louder than his words. After he became active in the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization and did the Irish jig with Dinkins at the 1991 parade, he made headlines when he was dismissed from his teaching job.

Brendan was shocked by the pink slip. "Participating in the parade was in total keeping with my Catholic faith, which involved standing up in the face of discrimination," he says. "I was happy to be telling people that Catholicism was against discrimination and was leading the way for inclusion."

To keep his faith, he started making documentaries about gay Catholic heroes, including ACT-UP spokesman Robert Rygor and FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge, who was a casualty of the 9/11 attacks. He latest film, Uncommon Jesuit, is about gay pioneer priest John McNeill.

Brendan found himself in the news again in 2000 at the first St. Pat's for All Parade & Fair, and in 2003 when he went to Canada to marry Tom Moulton, who he met at mass. Their photo appeared on the cover of several New York City newspapers.

His name played prominently in the international news again in 2008 when Polish President Lech Kaczynski, in a nationally televised homophobic address, showed a video clip of Brendan and Tom at their civil wedding in Canada. (Brendan and Tom went to Poland to try to talk with Kaczysnki but were rebuffed.)

But there's one headline that continues to elude him:

BRENDAN FAY GETS MANHATTAN'S ST. PAT'S PARADE TO WELCOME GAYS

"I still make a formal request every year to be in the other parades," he says. "But nobody ever gets back to me. But it will happen in my lifetime. My dream is that St. Pats for All will be a model for all Irish parades in New York City and will spread to other boroughs. Already, gays and lesbians are marching in other ethnic parades."

St. Pats for All, he reminds, is part of his greater mission.

"I'll continue my civil-rights crusades to help people the world over," Brendan says. "I'm taking a stand every day, whether it's attending a rally for marriage equality or organizing a lunchtime vigil at a foreign embassy to protest laws, such as those in Uganda, that permit the death penalty for lesbian and gay persons."

And so he will march this March and every March until the rest of the world gets in step with him.

Marching Towards Equality

Gay City News

March 17, 2009

By Winnie McCroy

Throughout the course of the last decade, a small St. Patrick’s Day parade in a New York borough has made a lasting mark on the world. The all-inclusive St. Pat’s For All Parade, held on March 1 in Sunnyside, Queens, has evolved from an “alternative” holiday parade, organized by gay activist Brendan Fay, to a remarkable example of a community embracing diversity.

“When we began this parade we couldn’t have imagined the friendships and community spirit that sustained and helped the parade grow beyond the streets of Queens to include annual concerts at the Irish Arts Center and local schools,” said Fay. “People get it. It’s still the parade that has the aspect to it that ‘We welcome you,’ that ‘We’re inclusive.’”

This year’s grand marshals, Terry George, a director (“The Boxer”) and screenwriter (“Hotel Rwanda”), and songwriter and folksinger Susan McKeown — both of them Irish-born — led the parade. As in years previous, community organizations, dancers, musicians, and puppeteers marched under their own banners, celebrating Queens’ cultural diversity. An NAACP group carried the banner of Frederick Douglass, recalling his visit to Ireland during the famine. The Mexican community honored San Patricios and how Irish immigrants defended them in the US-Mexican War of 1846-1848. Ecuadoreans celebrated the founder of their navy, Irishman Thomas Charles Wright. Native people from the Choctaw and Shinnecock tribes remembered how their outreach in 1847 helped save starving Irish people during the great famine.

Even the African-American and Latino children from the Irish dance group the Keltic Dreams of P.S. 59 in the Bronx witnessed how, in stark contrast to Ancient Order of Hibernians’ parade on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, which bars participants from identifying themselves as LGBT, this event invites all to show their connection with Irish culture and heritage.

This year, parade attendance was higher than ever, with the route lined with spectators despite brisk temperatures and morning flurries. A parade that originally drew anti-gay protesters and only a small turnout of curious community members gathered along Skillman Avenue has undeniably become a cherished neighborhood tradition.

“We come together as diverse communities of New Yorkers to celebrate Irish heritage and culture,” said Fay. “Exclusion in 2009 — whether from a community parade, a family table, or an institution such as marriage — is wrong and unfair.”

If politicians represent a fair barometer of popular attitudes, the St. Pat’s For All’s philosophy seems to have gained ascendancy in Sunnyside.

“Every year, more and more elected officials realize that this is a people’s parade,” said co-organizer Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy.

City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, an out lesbian from Chelsea, marches in Queens every year and boycotts the Hibernians’ parade. She was joined in Sunnyside by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Charles Schumer, Comptroller William Thompson, Congressmen Anthony Weiner and Joseph Crowley, State Senator Thomas K. Duane, also openly gay and from Chelsea, Assemblymembers Rory Lancman and José Peralta, and Councilmembers Tony Avela, Elizabeth Crowley, Bill DiBlasio, James Gennaro, Eric Gioia, John Liu, and David Yassky.

“What this parade says today is that all members of the Irish community in New York City are very welcome to be a part… and to be out and proud about who they are,” said Quinn. “Anybody who thinks that the Irish community doesn’t want to embrace its LGBT members just need look at this parade and how much it has grown every year, and how much more diverse and strong it gets every year.”

“You know, all parades should be open to everyone. Let’s get serious,” said Bloomberg, who, like Schumer, nonetheless marches in the exclusionary Hibernian event as well.

Community groups marching included the Boys and Girls Clubs, the Fire Department’s office of recruitment, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders, or SAGE, Irish for Obama, the Niall O’Leary School of Dance, the Lavender & Green Alliance, the All-City School Marching Band, Local 1199, Dignity New York, the Episcopal Society of St. Francis, Catholic Workers, the Metropolitan Community Church, the AIDS Center of Queens, and alumni of Notre Dame and St. John’s University.

Fay pledged to keep pressing for the Hibernians to change their tune.

“We have to keep protesting discrimination wherever it occurs, and never settling for second-class citizenship,” said Fay. “I hope someday the spirit of this parade spreads to the Irish parades in the other boroughs, and I will stay with the struggle until, one day, we all will be together on Fifth Avenue.”

Weather Holds Off For Sunnyside St. Pat's Parade

The Queens Gazette

March 4, 2009

By Thomas Gogan

The 10th St. Patrick's Parade in Sunnyside occurred on a day when the forecast was for cold and wet weather. Though snow had been deposited on rooftops overnight, the white stuff held off during the parade, but cold weather remained. By the time the parade began, after some entertainment and words from politicians, it appeared the parade's spirit had become a bit chilled too, because the enthusiasm evident in most of the previous nine parades seemed to be forced at this one. Several of the musical and dance groups present in the past were there again, and the musicians were still expert and tuneful, the dancers still lively and enthusiastic. It looked, however, as if the parade's usual leaders were waiting for something more to arrive, and nothing did.

Still, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn put her heart and voice into her presentation, declaring the parade "bigger and stronger than ever". As she spoke from the stage mounted on a truck at the corner of Skillman Avenue and 43rd Street in Sunnyside, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared behind her. When Brendan Fay, founder of the parade, introduced him a short time later, the mayor, adding "Let's get serious!" for emphasis, said that any parade should be open to all. He was sounding the theme of inclusiveness that brought the Sunnyside parade into existence in 2000. His speech was brief, but when he finished, he took his place at the head of the parade and led it all the way up Skillman to 56th Street, over to Woodside Avenue and on to its conclusion, on the other side of Roosevelt Avenue.

Grand marshals of this 10th parade were Susan McKeown, a singer from Dublin who nevertheless referred to "my old neighborhood of Woodside" and Belfast's Terry George, a film director notable for "Hotel Rwanda". They and the others paid tribute to the late Frank Durkin, grand marshal of the first parade, who was present at later parades as long as possible. Among the other political figures who spoke were several presumed mayoral candidates, City Comptroller William Thompson, whose voice was truly in campaign mode, and Congressmember Anthony Weiner. The most prominent of all candidates, whose right to run might face a challenge in the state legislature, not only led the parade but also had signs distributed that called him "Irish Mike Bloomberg".

There were several bagpipers and the six-player group De Jimbe continued to be the parade's musical heart and soul, but the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, not in sight when the parade began, might have been late because it was intent on bringing up the rear of the march anyway, amusing spectators and listeners as it proceeded. Keltic Dreams, a step dancing group from P.S. 59 on Bathgate Avenue in The Bronx, has also become an inseparable part of the parade. A black and Latino troupe made choreographically Irish by their teacher, Christine Duggan, Keltic Dreams has become a crowd favorite. Also appearing again were students from the Niall O'Leary School of Dance. Making a first appearance was Tibetan Diaspora, a group of adolescent dancers from International H. S. on Thomson Avenue in Long Island City. Protests are shunned by the elders of the March 17 ceremony on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, but in Sunnyside and Woodside, the sentiment toward them is definitely one of inclusion. The cold but dry weather led Quinn to remark that God was with the parade. By the next morning, an overnight snowfall had put several inches on the ground and forced closing of the schools, leading to speculation that the council speaker must have felt divinely reassured.

Taking to the streets of New York with pride

An ‘all-inclusive’ alternative to New York’s St Patrick’s Day parade takes place in the city tomorrow

The Irish Times

Sat, Feb 28, 2009

By Conn Corrigan

Described by the the Irish- American writer Pete Hamill as a parade “with a purpose”, St Pat’s For All is now in its 10th year and takes place tomorrow in Queens, New York.

The Queens parade offers an alternative to the St Patrick’s Day parade in Manhattan, which takes place on Fifth Avenue. Because of the exclusion of gay groups from the latter, for some Irish-Americans in New York, St Patrick’s Day has become more of a source of embarrassment than a point of celebration.

The Manhattan parade has seen some ugly scenes over the years as gay rights protesters clashed with the parade organisers, the Ancient Order of the Hibernians (AOH), a Catholic Irish-American fraternity. A Supreme Court ruling in 1995 found that, as a private group, the AOH could exclude whoever it wanted.

St Pat’s For All, however, describes itself an “inclusive” parade. Its website says that “this parade welcomes all to celebrate Irish heritage and culture regardless of race, gender, creed or sexual orientation”.

The parade organisers stress that theirs is not a gay pride parade. “Of course there are gay people in the parade,” says Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy, the parade co-chair. “But it is an Irish parade where everyone who wants to celebrate the Irish diaspora can join in.”

“The parade is a multicultural, multi-ethnic celebration of Ireland,” says Brendan Fay, also a co-chair. He points out that a group from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will carry a banner of Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist who visited Ireland on a lecture tour in 1845. And a group from the Mexican community will honour the San Patricios, a group of Irish immigrants who fought on the Mexican side during the US-Mexican war of 1846-1848.

To celebrate Barack Obama’s election, Stella O’Leary, the president of Irish-American Democrats, will speak at the parade. “It’s refreshing to know that there is an Irish group that is so inclusive,” says O’Leary. “I’ve been very impressed by all the ethnic groups involved.”

This year, the parade’s grand marshals are Terry George, the Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter from Belfast, and Susan McKeown, a New York-based singer and songwriter originally from Dublin.

The Keltic Dreams, a group of Irish dancers from an elementary school in a poor neighbourhood of the Bronx, were one of the highlights at last year’s St Pat’s For All. The group, made up of African-American and Latino children, has performed on The Late Late Show and was the subject of a documentary shown on RTÉ. Led by Caroline Duggan, an Irish dancing teacher from Dublin, the group will perform again at tomorrow’s parade.

Brendan Fay, a veteran gay rights campaigner, says he co-founded St Pat’s For All out of a sense of frustration at what was happening in Manhattan. “I remember telling a reporter years ago that there would be peace on the streets of Belfast before gays groups would be allowed to march down Fifth Avenue,” he says. He recalls getting a phone call from a woman from New Jersey whose gay son killed himself, thanking him for putting on a parade where people like her son could feel accepted.

A native of Drogheda, Fay(who met his husband at mass and has two degrees in theology) was involved in the dispute between a now-defunct group called the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organisation and the Ancient Order of the Hibernians during the 1990s over gay groups marching in the Fifth Avenue parade. In 1991, following a complaint from a parent, he was fired from his job as a religion teacher at a Catholic girls’ high school in Queens.

Organisers say marchers have been subjected to harassment over the years, although this has lessened in recent times. At the parade itself, there are always a handful of protesters who wave banners bearing legends such as “Shame” and “Sodomy”.One year, there was a gay man from Woodside, Queens, who was marching in the parade while his own mother was protesting on the sidewalk, waving a banner about the evils of homosexuality.

Some in the Irish-American community object to the use of “St Pat’s” in the parade title. “As the parade organisers boast, the march celebrates many religious, racial and ethnic groups, including a gay and lesbian contingent,” says Bill Donohue, the president of right-wing conservative organisation the Catholic League. “This is fine by me, but as such it should be renamed the Multicultural Parade: it obviously has nothing to do with St Patrick. If it did, it wouldn’t have a Methodist or NAACP contingent, any more than the Salute to Israel Parade would allow a Methodist or NAACP contingent.”

Matt Nelligan, the New York State President of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, says that while other St Patrick’s Day parades involve “public displays of Irish pride that everyone can buy into”, people should remember that “we don’t call it Irish-American cultural day, we call it St Patrick’s Day. And that’s in honour of a Catholic saint.”

However, Malachy McCourt, the writer (and brother of Frank), argues that the Fifth Avenue parade is “more of a religious procession than a parade”. McCourt, who was grand marshal at St Pat’s For All two years ago, says he will be in attendance at the Queens parade tomorrow.

“I will be strolling, rather than marching,” he adds.

Economy focus of conversation surrounding this year's St. Patrick's Day parades

The Daily News

February 26th, 2009

By Brendan Brosh

The two St. Patrick's Day parades in Queens are usually full of political intrigue, but this time around the economy is the main topic of conversation.

"This year, more than most, people are giving small donations," said Brendan Fay, a filmmaker who founded the St. Pat's For All Parade in Sunnyside in 1999. This year's festivities will be on Sunday.

"For ten years, we've learned how to operate a parade on a very low budget of around $5,000," Fay said.

Organizers of the Queens County St. Patrick's Day Parade in Rockaway, on March 7 this year, said fund-raising has been particularly tough since the economic meltdown.

"A lot of people are out of work," said Michael Benn, 60, who has been coordinating the parade for the past 19 years. "All the organizations are suffering."

Despite the economic woes, Benn said the parade will feature the same number of pipe bands as in 2008.

"I think this year we'll get a larger viewing audience, because people want to enjoy themselves and not be worried about getting laid off," the County Limerick native said.

Mayor Bloomberg, who skipped the Rockaway parade in 2008, will serve as this year's grand marshal - and is expected to get an earful from locals.

Some groups planned to protest against the mayor last year over the construction of a controversial local YMCA, but were let down when he opted not to attend.

"We're going to start calling him 'Manhattan Mike,'" said restaurant owner Dan Tubridy, who has been active in fighting the proposed elimination of the toll rebate on the Cross Bay Bridge.

"The mayor has never stood with this community on any issue," Tubridy said.

The Queens parades are not the only Irish gatherings suffering in the ailing economy. The nation's second-oldest parade in Philadelphia was in jeopardy of being canceled until local donors pitched in $40,000.

The Sunnyside parade, which bills itself as the only inclusive parade for gay and lesbian groups, will be led by "Hotel Rwanda" film director Terry George and singer Susan McKeown.

"We don't have any corporate sponsorship," said Fay, 50, a County Louth native.

"But this is the land of immigrants, and we always find a way to pull through."

George, McKeown to Lead Queens Parade

Irish Voice

February 25, 2009

By Cahir O'Doherty

Award winning film director Terry George and celebrated Irish singer Susan McKeown have been selected as the grand marshals for this year's inclusive Sunnyside Woodside St. Patrick's Day Parade in Queens on March 1 at 1:30 p.m.
George, director of the acclaimed films "Some Mother's Son" and "Hotel Rwanda" among others, told the Irish Voice, "This parade includes anyone who wants to participate and I fully support it. I'm a fan of equal rights and I'm also a fan of Susan McKeown's, so I'm looking forward to seeing her there too."

Unlike the main parade on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the Queens parade allows gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Irish groups full participation under their own banners alongside pipers, puppets, politicians, folk bands, sports and religious groups.
Political leaders scheduled to march on the day include New York City Mayor Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Congressman Joseph Crowley.
Now in its 10th year as New York City's only inclusive St. Patrick's parade, the Queens parade begins at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside and ends at 61st Street in Woodside.
"We err on the side of hospitality," parade co-chair Brendan Fay told the Irish Voice. "It's in the best spirit of Ireland and it also reflects the daily reality of the most ethnically diverse borough of New York."
The grassroots, low budget parade begins with a special concert at the Irish Arts Center on Friday, February 27. Among the writers, actors, and musicians performing are Malachy McCourt, Peter Quinn, McKeown, Fiona Walsh, Kenny Lockwood, the Niall O'Leary School of Dance and the Keltic Dream Dancers, led by Caroline Duggan.

"It's such a wonderful event and it's hard to believe its already in its 10th year. It's amazing what they achieved in the last decade," singer McKeown told the Irish Voice.
"It's a parade that for me is representative of the real New York community. It's not just an Irish festival but also one that celebrates what the Irish have done in New York. They've gone to great lengths to make it a welcoming festival and all sorts of people take part. I'm very proud to have been invited to participate."

Irish groups joining the line of march include the O'Donovan Rossa Society, the Brehon Law Society, the Patrick Finucane memorial group, the Irish language group An Slua Nua, and several Irish dance schools.
Ian Mc Gowan of the Astoria Historical Society will lead a group honoring Irish American sports heroes of the 1908 Olympics. Also marching are boys and girls clubs, members of the FDNY Office of Recruitment and marching groups from Catholic and Protestant parish communities.

"With our banners we'll honor Irish saints like St. Brigid and St. Patrick and we'll also honor personal heroes. Human rights lawyers Paul O'Dwyer, Frank Durkan and the 9/11 chaplain, Father Mychal Judge, were all were supporters of the parade," said Fay.
NAACP members celebrating its centenary will carry the banner of Frederick Douglass, recalling his visit to Ireland during the Famine. The Mexican community will honor the San Patricios, the Irish immigrants who defended the Mexico in the U.S. Mexican War of 1846-1848. Peruvians participating will honor the life of Irish patriot Roger Casement for his humanitarian work in Africa and South America.

Parade sponsors include the WaMu Bank, Technical Career Institute, Skyline Hotel, United Federation of Teachers, Local 375/DC 37, Irish Arts Center, and Catholic gay group Dignity.

For more information and to register to march in the parade visit www.stpatsforall.com.

Luck's Forever Dublin

Gay City News

March 06, 2008

By Winnie McCroy

Residents of the Queens neighborhoods of Sunnyside and Woodside are way beyond having to choose between celebrating their Irish heritage or embracing their city's diversity. For the better part of a decade, the St. Pat's for All inclusive parade has become firmly established as one of the city's best examples of how New York's diverse communities can celebrate Irish history in a unified and festive fashion.

"What's very moving is the community activism and hope and commitment that made this inclusive parade possible... and now it's another traditional parade in this city," said parade co-chair Brendan Fay.

"It's the most progressive parade in New York; we welcome everybody," added parade co-chair Kathleen Walsh D'Arcy.

The annual event stands in stark contrast to the centuries-old March 17 walk down Fifth Avenue, organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which bars participation by openly LGBT groups. Dating back to the mayoralty of David Dinkins, Fay was a leader of the to-date unsuccessful effort to integrate that parade. In recent years, Fay refocused his energies on building an inclusive tradition in his home borough.

Sunny skies greeted the many politicians, marchers, and viewers who lined up along Skillman Avenue on March 2 for what remains the only St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City that welcomes gays. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has regularly marched, was absent this year, but other elected officials present included City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, an out lesbian from Chelsea who was one of two grand marshals, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Comptroller William Thompson, Congressman Anthony Weiner, Assembly Members Michael Gianaris, Rory Lancman, Jose Peralta, and Audrey Pfeffer, Councilmembers Jim Gennaro, Eric Gioia, Melinda Katz, and David Weprin, and Democratic district leader Danny Dromm.

"I have known all the sacrifice and commitment Brendan has put in his work on behalf of the Irish community and the LGBT community, so to be honored and recognized in this way is always wonderful, but to be honored and recognized by Brendan at the only truly inclusive parade - one that really stands in tremendously sharp contrast to Fifth Avenue - it's a very exciting day," Quinn told Gay City News.

The speaker's fellow grand marshal, Pete Hamill, the Brooklyn journalist and author, echoed this sentiment, saying, "It's the greatest Irish parade anywhere, maybe except Cork, and one I wish the people that ran the Fifth Avenue parade would pay greater attention to, and understand the spirit of what it meant to be Irish long before we began arguing over interpretations of things from the 16th century... when being Irish was something to be proud of."

Although local politicians and activists have always been drawn to this inclusive parade, its acceptance by the diverse Sunnyside and Woodside neighborhoods, which include their fair share of conservative-minded residents, speaks volumes about its success. The anti-gay protestors present in earlier years were conspicuously absent, and crowds lined up along the route, despite the cold winter winds.

George Pabon, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, sat watching a soccer match while he awaited the arrival of his friends from HOLA, Hombre Latinos de Ambiente.

"I think every parade should include everyone - black, white, straight, or gay," said Pabon, adding that he no longer attends the St. Patrick's Day parade in Manhattan, given the exclusion of gays. Pabon credits the success of the Queens parade to having "the support of the neighborhood. The community has to work together to make it happen."

Dorothy Bukantz, who has lived on 47th Street for 12 years, said that many of her neighbors in this tight-knit community lean toward activism of some sort.

"Every year this parade gets better, and more inclusive," said Bukantz. "It became representative of the amazing diversity of Queens. Parades that only represent one portion aren't anywhere near as exciting as when you're standing on the street and you see something from your culture there."

Bukantz said she avoided the Fifth Avenue parade both because of the exclusionary policy and the drunken revelers, adding, "They should clean up their act, and include everybody. But we should keep our parade anyway, because it's something different. It's not a gay parade, it's everybody's parade."

Alice Farrell has lived in the area for nearly seven years, and noted, "More and more people come out every year and embrace it. You see more diverse groups marching, and it's just a fabulous statement to the inclusiveness that they've tried to foster among all the people in the community."

As a young child tugged at her sweater, Farrell added that as an openly gay woman, she does not support the parade down Fifth Avenue, because they will not allow her to march openly under a banner.

College Point resident Kim Boyd stood at the sidelines with her infant son and mother, Margaret, watching the parade for the first time. Boyd said that they had made the trek across Queens to begin exposing her son to these cultural events, and considered the inclusive nature of the parade important. Although she said she would like to take her son to the Fifth Avenue parade, the raucous crowds made it a less than ideal environment.

Jenny Turpin of nearby Elmhurst said that this would be her Irish husband's first St. Patrick's Day parade since he moved to America eight years ago. Although they appreciated the inclusive aspect of the parade, what compelled them to attend - and kept them from the Fifth Avenue parade - was that the event is geared more toward community, and less toward public intoxication.

Another first-year attendee, Pat Rhodes, traveled across the city from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, after reading about the parade in the newspaper.

"I can't understand why they got flagged from the New York City parade in the first place," Rhodes said. "I'm from Philadelphia, and our parade is very different; everyone's welcome."

Still, this corner of Queens has some strides to make toward complete inclusion.

"People throw up barriers still to this day in this neighborhood. [They] are afraid of gay issues, and that's too bad. Even when I'm at the local pub, I'll hear people belittling the parade," said Patrick Linghenry, a resident of 47th Street and Skillman Avenue. "Some people, they're still afraid. I think we have a way to go before people feel comfortable."

"Sunnyside Gardens has always been a very diverse community, ethnically, economically, age-wise, and that spawns all kinds of multicultural celebrations and tolerance among different ethnic groups," countered his neighbor, Marc Crawford Leavitt. "This parade is very welcomed by folks because it's multicultural, and accepts gays. While the Catholic Church has a very strong influence in this neighborhood, it's within the context of the tolerance that this neighborhood carries. For the most part, it's very welcome."

"This parade has changed a lot of attitudes in the city," Fay stated. "For years, protestors being arrested was the annual story around the parade. But this parade, which began with the hopes and dreams of people in Queens, has grown. And it's not just about tagging along LGBT contingents... but literally about rethinking what cultural events and parades are in this city. We weren't just a flash in the pan, reacting to something on Fifth Avenue. This parade is a good that has come out of an experience of discrimination."

The Prides of March

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Queens welcomes gays. In Manhattan, no such luck.

NY Blade

Mar. 06, 2008

By Erline Andrews

Samantha Kavanagh stepped back to show off her green and white pinafore dress, which she wore because it seemed “most Irish.” Kavanagh, a transgender woman, was part of the 1,500 or so people taking part in the ninth-annual Queens St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday, March 2. It was the second time Kavanagh attended and her excitement was obvious. She flitted about with an Irish flag and a rainbow boa, soaking up the scene with a hand-held camera. She eagerly shared her joy with journalists.

“I feel so welcome here,” she said with a wide smile. “I feel more welcome here than I do in Ireland. They don’t accept people like me in Ireland.”

The parade, affectionately known as St. Pat's for All, has become not only a celebration of Irish culture but also of Queens’ diversity: tartan kilts brush again brightly colored Peruvian dresses, and school children dance among senior citizens

But the parade is also a reminder of the thing it was created to fight: intolerance. The first St. Pat’s for All in 2000 was held reaction to the Manhattan's parade, which excludes gay groups.

As an openly gay official and an Irish-New Yorker, Quinn finds herself in the middle of the St. Patrick’s Day flap annually. Last year, she snubbed the Manhattan parade to join an inclusive one in Dublin, Ireland.

This year, she was a grand marshal of the St. Pat’s for All event.

“As great as today is,” she said Sunday, “it is always tinged with sadness because everyone who is marching today would not be able to march on Fifth Avenue.”

So inclusive is St. Pat’s for All that among the procession was a group—The Radical Homosexual Agenda—protesting Quinn's refusal to intervene in changing the city's rules of assembly (groups of 50 or more are required by law to get a permit).

“We err on the side of hospitality,” said parade organizer Brendan Fay, explaining RHA’s participation. “We seek to find a way to welcome people rather than to keep people out.” He added that he nevertheless wished the RHA had chosen another forum to make their point.
The parade, which goes from 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue to 61st Street and Woodside Avenue in Sunnyside, attracts a contingent of groups which march as much in support of St. Pat's for All as against the March 17 parade along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. Some of this weekend’s participants would never take part in the latter.

“It’s a disgrace that discrimination is allowed to continue,” said Meredith, one of the musicians in a Brooklyn-based marching band called the Rude Mechanical Orchestra. She didn’t give her last name. “It’s important to be here, where everybody is included, celebrating Irish culture,” she said.

Yet many groups refuse invitations to participate in St. Pat's for All precisely because of its openness. Anti-gay protesters have even picketed the event. Fay said he’d offer them tea and shake they hands, saying, “The expression of free speech is a gift of New York.”

The attitude typifies St. Pat’s for All.

“The parade reflects a spirit of generosity that is unique among parades in this city,” Fays said.

Queens St. Patrick’s Day Parade To Be Led by Hamill, Quinn

Only New York parade to accept gay participants

Irish Emigrant

February 27, 2008

By Maureen Sullivan

‘We are especially proud to honor Pete Hamill and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.’

Parade co-chairman Brendan Fay

Councilwoman Christine Quinn and renowned journalist and author Pete Hamill have been named joint grand marshals of the St. Patrick's Parade & Irish Fair in Queens on March 2.

First held in 2000, this event sets itself apart from the other marches that take place during this season since it is the only New York City parade that does not exclude members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community from participating. Better known as the "St. Pats for All" parade, the name reflects not only its all-inclusive ethos but its desire to openly welcome and encourage everyone to share in the spirit of the day.

Parade co-chairman Brendan Fay said parade organizers are proud to welcome Quinn and Hamill.

“We are especially proud to honor Pete Hamill and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn,” said Fay. “Pete Hamill has that Irish way with words about him which fire and inspire. They represent a heritage celebrating the Irish contribution to the worlds of literature and politics.”

Parade co-chairwoman Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy said the parade aims to welcome all in the Queens community.

“I feel privileged to be part of the Sunnyside-Woodside ‘St. Pat's for All Parade,’ a celebration that embraces every person and honors our amazing heritage,” she said.

Fay stressed the aim of the parade is to celebrate the diversity found in Queens.

“We celebrate Irish heritage and culture,” Fay said. “Whether fleeing poverty or in the pursuit of dreams, the Irish Diaspora has scattered to all corners of the globe. So, diverse communities of New Yorkers gather in Queens to celebrate Ireland. Whether Latino, West Indian, Choctaw, Protestant, Catholic, gay or straight the Irish story brings us together.”

Other supporters of the parade include Rep. Anthony Weiner, Comptroller Bill Thompson, Assembly Member Jose Peralta and a number of other Council members.

A pre-parade concert will take place at the Irish Arts Center on Friday, Feb. 29 when Hamill and Quinn will also be presented with parade sashes. Malachy McCourt, Fiona Walsh, the Keltic Dream Dancers, musicians and the Niall O’Leary school dancers will provide entertainment. Tickets are available at www.smarttix.com or by calling 212 -868-4444.

The parade begins at 1:30 p.m. in Sunnyside at 43rd and Skillman Avenue to 61st and Woodside. To register, visit their Web site: www.stapstsforall.com or call 718-721-2780. The Irish ArtsCenter is located at 553 West 51st St.

Quinn, Hamill To Lead Queens Inclusive Parade

Irish Echo

February 27, 2008

Irish Echo Staff

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and writer Pete Hamill are lined up to lead the March Inclusive St. Patrick's Parade in Queens this Sunday March 2. Before the parade there will be a pre-parade concert at the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan on Friday night, Feb. 29.

What will be the 9th annual "St. Pat's For All Parade" will begin at 43rd & Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside at 1. 30 p.m. and wind its way to 61st and Woodside.

The parade is the only march in the New york area that includes gay marching contingents.

The 2008 grand marshals Quinn and Hamill will be presented with parade sashes at the Friday night concert at the Arts Center, 553 W.51st Street.

The concert features Malachy McCourt, stand up comedy with Fiona Walsh, Caroline Duggan & the Keltic Dream Dancers from PS 59, The popular Niall O'Leary school dancers are also no the bill.

Musicians from Ireland include Brian Fleming, Gwenn Frinn and Sean Millar. Donation is $35 and tickets are available from smarttix.com

"We celebrate Irish heritage and culture. Whether fleeing poverty or in the pursuit of dreams the Irish Diaspora have scattered to all corners of the globe," said parade co-chair and founder, Brendan Fay.

"So we gather on March 2nd in Queens as diverse communities of New Yorkers to celebrate Ireland. Whether Latino, West Indian, Choctaw, Protestant, Catholic, jew gay or straight, the Irish story bring us together," said Fay.

"We are especially proud to honor Pete Hamill and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn," said Fay.

"When Speaker Quinn, who speaks proudly of her Irish heritage and is openly gay, marches in the St. Patrick's parades throughout the city she open doors. She challenges years of exclusion and ignorance. She is a real bridge builder," said Fay.

Sunday's parade will also honor IPEC, the Irish Parades Emergency Committee which was founded ten years ago by New Yorkers who used their vacations to travel and monitor parades in Northern Ireland.

A number of area politicians have been invited to march and they include Congressman Anthony Weiner, New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson, Assembly Member Jose Peralta, and many New York City Council members.

Parade sponsors comes from businesses, unions and labor leaders, including Commerce Bank, Local 1199, United Federation of Teachers, Local 375/DC 37, and from Lavender & Green Alliance, The Irish Arts Center and the Catholic group, Dignity/NY.

"I feel privileged to be part of the Sunnyside-Woodside St. Pat's for All Parade, a celebration that embraces every person and honors our amazing heritage," said parade co-chair, Kathleen Walsh D'Arcy.

"As a Queens resident, I attended many of the parades and, last year, decided to actively support this great parade as organizer. Children are the stars of this parade, dancing, singing and celebrating the March season of Irish pride."

"Our parade also casts light on forgotten corners of Irish history and heritage," added Fay.

We have banners honoring Irish justice and peace pioneers, St. Brigid, St. Patrick, Dan and Phil Berrigan and Mother Jones. New banners this year will honor the memory of Frank Durkan and Fr. Mychal Judge. We welcome Hibernians, parishes, individuals with their county or community banners," Fay said.

Information and registration details for the parade are available at

www.stapstsforall.com or call (718)721-2780.

A Parade Truly for All in Sunnyside

February 26, 2008

By Denis Hamill

This is the parade the Irish should celebrate.

The St. Pat's for All Parade and Festival in Sunnyside on Sunday welcomes one and all to celebrate Irish culture. There will be no banishment of anyone because of her or his sexual preference, political affiliation or religious beliefs.

This parade that organizers describe as a mix of "street theater, puppets, stilt walkers, bands, ethnic and community groups, labor, religious and political contingents, banners, dancers and youth groups" is open to all New Yorkers, which means the whole human family.

The parade starts at 2 p.m. at 43rd St. and Skillman Ave. and ends at 61st St. and Woodside Ave.

Full disclosure here: Along with New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a proud Irishwoman and lesbian, my brother, Pete Hamill, is one of the grand marshals.

But the parade was started by a fella named Brendan Fay who got a little tired being hauled off in "paddy wagons" on Paddy's Day over the years when he showed up to march as a proudly gay Irishman.

"Some people might have given up," says Fay. "But I'm of the type who thought there must be a St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York that simply said, 'Put on the kettle, everybody's welcome.' I went to Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island, and the odd thing was I'd go to the Masses, and the breakfasts no problem. But then the parade organizers would have the police lift me off the avenue if I marched in the parades."

After being arrested in 1999 Fay decided he was going to organize his own parade that said everyone was welcome. "Catholic, Protestant, gay, straight, all of us together," he says. "I called loads of Irish groups whom I thought would be thrilled to participate. Many said they wanted nothing to do with this parade."

Then one day while he was sitting in a Chilean restaurant in Woodside, the owner asked Fay what he was up to. "I told him we were trying to organize a St. Patrick's Day parade that said everyone was welcome," Fay says. "He took me into the kitchen and up on the wall was a picture of Bernard O'Higgins, the first president of Chile. He asked if he could have a Chilean group in the parade. I said, of course!"

Soon Fay was signing up Mexican groups representing the celebrated San Patricio Brigade that defended the Mexicans in the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-48, a Peruvian group carrying the banner of Irish patriot Roger Casement, a group of Black and Latino Irish step dancers from the Bronx.

"And the first donation for our parade was a check from Mychal Judge, the priest who was the FDNY chaplain who died on 9/11," says Fay. "Father Judge agreed that whether you are Irish by birth, heritage or simply affection, this is the parade for you."

This year the parade will have marchers from Muslim organizations, the Yiddish Sons of Erin, District Council 37, Local 375, Local 1199, the UFT, The Central Labor Council, Catholic organizations like Catholic Worker, Dignity New York and the Protestant Episcopal Society of St. Francis.

Plus the Niall O'Leary School of Irish Dance, Lavender and Green Alliance, Irish Arts Center, the Brehon Law Society, The Keltic Dreamers from PS 59 in the Bronx, and the All City Marching Band.

"I haven't marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Fifth Ave. in Manhattan since they decided to name it a Catholic parade in 1993," my brother, Pete, told me. "The reason for it was to keep the gays out. And as someone who has been back and forth to Northern Ireland, and whose parents are from Belfast, I knew that this statement making the traditional St. Patrick's Day Parade a Catholic parade, as if Irishness and Catholicism were synonyms, could get people killed in the North of Ireland. It also underlined the sense of division in a way that these malletheads hadn't thought about very hard."

So Pete never again marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade down Fifth Ave., organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which he calls the "Order of Ancient Hibernians."

"But this St. Pat's for All parade is just that, open to everybody," he says. "That means it would be open to William Butler Yeats, to Wolf Tone, to John Hewitt, Derek Mahon, to Sean

O'Casey. To all kinds of people who were Irish and Protestant and otherwise. Not just straight Irish Catholics. That tradition has to be honored if we are going to ever end the 16th Century in Northern Ireland. And above all, this parade would have been open to Oscar Wilde, who was Protestant and homosexual."

There will be a postparade celebration from 3-5 p.m. at a place appropriately called Saints & Sinners at 59-12 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside.

All are welcome.

March to Ireland
Quinn nixes Manhattan parade for Dublin's gay-friendly event

NY Blade

March 09, 2007

By Trenton Straube

NEW YORK (AP) City Council Speaker Christine Quinn plans to march in Dublin, Ireland's St. Patrick's Day parade this year, again snubbing the March 17 New York City parade in Manhattan because its organizers refuse to allow gay and lesbian groups to march in the parade.

Quinn, an Irish-American who is the city's first openly gay council speaker, is heading to the Dublin parade at the personal invitation of officials there.

"My participation in Dublin's parade is also an opportunity to march openly as a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community, something we have not been able to do in New York City," Quinn said in a statement last Sunday. "I hope my participation in the Dublin march will send a message about the importance of inclusion."

Not all St. Patrick's Day celebrations in New York City are closed to LGBT marchers. The eighth-annual St. Pat's for All parade and Irish fair took place last weekend in Queens.
Speaker Quinn marched in that parade, as did Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Comptroller William C. Thompson, Congressman Joseph Crowley, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Assemblymembers Jose Peralta and Michael Ginaris and Council Members Helen Sears, David Weprin, Eric Gioia and Melinda Katz.

Quinn announced her plan to march in Dublin during her speech at the St. Pat's for All parade.
"For folks who don't know, the Dublin St. Patrick's Day parade has always been inclusive and open to everyone who wants to march," she told the crowd in Queens.

"I want to say how excited we are to have two great opportunities to celebrate all members of the Irish community, including openly LGBT Irish people," Quinn added.

Mayor Bloomberg also addressed the marchers. He described the St. Pat's for All parade as "a chance for the city to pull together to show its diversity, to show that everybody in this city really is equal."
The St. Pat's for All parade honoree was Bronx public school teacher Caroline Duggan. An immigrant from Dublin, she is the founder and director of Keltic Dream Dancers, an after-school program that brings Irish music and dance to the mostly Latino and African-American students at P.S. 59. Those students participated in last weekend's parade.

In addition, District leader and Queens teacher Daniel Dromm marched with his students from P.S. 199.
"I was thrilled with the Queens boys and girls clubs who marched with their homemade signs", said co-chair Barbara Mohr.

"We gathered as diverse communities of New Yorkers to celebrate Ireland, whether Latino, West Indian, Choctaw, Protestant, Catholic, gay or straight, the Irish story brings us together", said Brendan Fay, the parade co-chair and founder.

The parade began at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside; it ended at 61st Street and Woodside Avenue.

A sold out pre-parade concert Friday night at the Irish Arts Center featured author Malachy McCourt, songwriter Kenny Lockwood, comedienne Fiona Walsh and traditional Irish musicians Brian Fleming and Gwen Frinn.

"Once again our St. Pat's for All parade brought the mayor of New York, musicians from Ireland, and a multitude of ages and races for a delightful celebration of Ireland," Fay added via a press statement.

The Manhattan Parade, The New York City parade that marches up Manhattan's Fifth Avenue is organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, who have denied permission to gays and lesbians to march under their own banner since 1991. The group has said it does not want to politicize the event.

Quinn tried to broker a deal with the group last year after taking office as speaker in January. But it didn't work, so she boycotted the event as she had in her previous years as a council member.
She's expected to be joined in Ireland by other members of the New York City Council, as well as the lord mayor of Dublin, the speaker of the Lower House of the Irish Parliament, and Dublin City Council members

During her upcoming trip, Quinn also expects to speak about the need for "a lasting peace in Northern Ireland," her office said. The Conference for American Ireland Relations will be footing the bill for the New York council trip to Ireland, according to Quinn's office.

Trenton Straube contributed to this story.

St. Pat's Parade Draws Diverse Queens Crowd

Times Ledger

March 8, 2007

By John Tozzi

A few flurries of snow did not chill the spirit streaming down Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside Sunday during the eighth annual St. Pat's for All parade. If the crowds lining the streets of Sunnyside and Woodside were sparser than in previous years, perhaps it was the cold air or the ongoing weekend closures of the No. 7 subway that kept them away. But for the many who did attend, the St. Pat's parade that organizers boast is as diverse as the borough of Queens did not disappoint.

"You don't have to be Irish to enjoy the parade," said Karim Simmons, a Bayside resident who wore Irish flags of green, orange and white makeup on his cheeks and shamrocks made of green pipe cleaners on his head. "Everybody from all walks of life can enjoy the parade," he said.

St. Pat's for All began in 2000 when organizers wanted a celebration in which gay groups barred from the Manhattan parade on Fifth Avenue could march. It has since become an institution in the Irish heart of Queens, winding from 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue to 61st Street and Woodside Avenue. Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended, as he does each year, along with a host of other electeds: U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights), Comptroller William Thompson, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Assembly members Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights) and Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria), and Council members Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside), Helen Sears (D-Jackson Heights), David Weprin (D-Hollis), James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) and Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills).

Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan), the first openly gay person to lead the Council, told the crowd she would boycott the March 17 parade in Manhattan, which still bars gay groups. Instead, Quinn said, she accepted an invitation to another St. Patrick's Day parade - in Dublin.

Young dancers from PS 59 in the Bronx were the stars of the show, and they epitomized the parade's spirit of diversity. The students step dancing from the parade's grand marshal, Dublin native Caroline Duggan. The troupe is going to perform in Ireland in May.

"They really reflect our theme, our message and the spirit of the parade," said parade founder Brendan Fay. "There's these New York kids, you know, African-American and Latino, who just love Irish music and Irish dance."

For some along the route, the pipers and drummers and Irish dancers were a welcome surprise.

"It's beautiful. I really love it," said Faiza Qureshi, who popped out of a Laundromat on Skillman to see what the fuss was about. She did not expect a St. Patrick's celebration so early, she said, because the festivities normally coincide with her birthday on March 17.

Qureshi, who moved to Sunnyside from India 11 years ago, said the inclusive spirit of the parade - with not just Irish but immigrants from everywhere - appealed to her.

"New York is a city of immigrants from all over the world," she said.

The parade is a clearinghouse for political causes local and national, from the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform to Sunnyside Gardens locals opposed to the plan to make the neighborhood a historic district.

The event is not without detractors. A pair of protesters stood silently on the corner of Skillman and 47th Street, holding a giant black banner that read in orange letters: "Sacrilege."

But the grim sign did not faze the marchers. A pair in full leprechaun garb jumped in front of the banner as the procession passed, smiling broadly, green balloons in hand, and stood for photographs.

"I came out because there are gay people in New York who aren't allowed to march" in the Manhattan parade, said Scott Williams, a Sunnyside resident watching the procession. "I live in Queens," he said. "I believe in diversity."

Reach reporter John Tozzi by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300 Ext. 174.

Council Speaker to March in Dublin

Irish Voice

March 8, 2007

By Cahir O'Doherty

NEW York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who refuses to march in the annual Fifth Avenue St. Patrick's Day Parade as long as it bans gay groups, has announced that she will march with her father in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin.

Quinn, who is the city's first openly gay council speaker, is heading to the Dublin parade at the personal invitation of Irish officials. Her decision to participate highlights the fact that the Dublin parade does not ban gay groups.

Speaking at New York's only all-inclusive St. Patrick's Day parade in Sunnyside last Sunday she told the Irish Voice, "I'm marching in two inclusive parades this year, the Sunnyside parade and the Dublin parade. In both parades my participation is an opportunity to march openly as a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, something we have not been able to do in New York City."

In Dublin, Quinn will march with the lord mayor, members of the Dail (Irish Parliament) and Dublin City Council members. The New York City Parade Committee has refused to allow gay groups to march since the issue arose in the early 1990s, and a series of court decisions have come down in their favor.

Quinn made her announcement to applause from participants in the Sunnyside parade. "I hope my participation in the Dublin march will send a message about the importance of inclusion," she said.

Speakers at the parade included New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who found himself eclipsed on the day by Quinn's dramatic announcement.

Other speakers included prominent Irish American attorney and former acting president of Division Five of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, Cody McCone. Addressing the crowd before the parade, McCone said, "I can explain my participation here today very simply, our constitution says that we are all created equal."

McCone, of the O'Dwyer and Bernstein law firm, celebrated the commitment to social justice of his friend and former parade honoree, the late Frank Durkan. He also acknowledged the participation of Durkan's widow Monica, who was in attendance.

The parade doubled in size this year, and hundreds of observers filled out along the route to applaud participants. Irish groups in the parade included the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform and the Irish American Unity Conference.

Brendan Fay, the parade co-organizer, was delighted by the increased attendance. "No one will ever know what happens behind the scenes when calls are made by influential people to try and prevent participants from showing up. That chilling effect works on some but as you can see not on everyone this is our largest parade ever," he said.

The biting wind blowing in from the East River did nothing to dampen the spirits of Keltic Kids, the brightly dressed young Irish dance troupe from the Bronx. Dance teacher and parade honoree Caroline Duggan led them expertly through their paces along the route. Their skill and dexterity was matched only by Niall O'Leary's equally eye catching Irish dance troupe.

As happens every year, a group of protestors held up hand written sings along the route that read "Stop Blaspheming Our Lord," and "Fry Mumia Jamal." But this year, perhaps in response to the icy wind, their numbers had dropped.

Responding to them, Fay insisted the protestors had got it wrong in any case.

"This is not a gay parade," said the 47-year-old activist and filmmaker. "It is an all-inclusive parade. The point of it is that we don't discriminate against anyone. We're all welcome to celebrate our Irish heritage here."

A St. Pat's Parade for Everyone

Metro New York

March 5, 2007

By Patrick Arden

SUNNYSIDE. The wind was frigid at 43rd and Skillman yesterday, but you'd never know that by looking at Brendan Fay. Dressed in a checked sports jacket, gray slacks and tennis shoes, Fay darted among the marchers in his eighth annual

St. Pat's for All Parade, which bills itself as "New York City's inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade." A wide range of groups were included, too: marching bands, Mexican folk dancers, dog owners, Veterans for Peace and a collection of artists

who dressed up in furry animal suits. Though parade co-chair Barbara Mohr wore a button that read "straight but not narrow," she wanted one thing to be perfectly clear. "This is an inclusive parade," said Mohr, a 73-year-old widow and

former nun. "It is not a gay parade." Yet the Queens event was founded in reaction to the refusal of Manhattan's St. Patrick's Day Parade to allow gay marchers. "We were so frustrated," Mohr recalled. "Then we decided it would be better to

start a celebration where everybody could come who wanted to come." Fay arrived in Jamaica, Queens, in 1984, planning to study theology at St. John's University. The 47-year-old is now a documentary filmmaker and activist. "I felt in my

heart that the city simply needed a celebration that would be open and welcoming to all who wanted to celebrate Ireland and its great cultural heritage," explained Fay, who pointed out that many of the parade's seemingly disparate groups

were "in some way honoring the Irish diaspora across the world." For example, he said, the dancers in the Ballet Quetzalcoatl de Brooklyn are perennials, coming up from Sunset Park every year to honor the Batallan de San Patricio, a

battalion of Texas militia who deserted and fought alongside the Mexican army in the 1846-'48 Mexican-American War. "You know, the founder of the Ecuadorian navy was from my own home town of Drogheda, Thomas Charles Wright,"

Fay said. "The Irish wound up in the Caribbean as slaves and working on the sugar plantations. Roger Casement went to the Congo and was an Irish patriot and gay man. So, to me, it makes sense that we all march together." When the

parade finished in Woodside, Fay went back to greeting people. Two had traveled all the way from Ireland. In a pub called Saints and Sinners, a friend asked Fay about the few protesters who lined the route, holding signs scrawled "Stop

Blaspheming Our Lord" and even "Old Hippies." "We've always had a handful," said Fay. "I wish I had cups of tea to hand them. I know what it's like to protest in the cold."

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn won't march again in the Fifth Avenue parade. She's been invited to march in Dublin. Unlike in Manhattan, the Dublin parade allows lesbian and gay groups.

Place for Council Speaker in St. Patrick's Parade?

NY Newsday

March 10, 2006

By Bryan Virasami

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was on the fence Thursday as to whether she would participate in next week's St. Patrick's Day Parade, which excludes gay and lesbian groups, according to a spokeswoman.

Quinn, who is Irish and openly gay, in the past has condemned the parade for barring Irish gays. She was among a group of activists who were arrested seven years ago while taking part in a protest against the annual parade on Fifth Avenue.

Quinn's spokeswoman, Maria Alvarado, said Thursday that the speaker has not decided whether to march.

"We will be making a decision by the 17th," she said, referring to the day of the parade.

Alvarado declined to discuss whether Quinn has raised the question of gay and lesbian groups taking part in next Friday's parade with event organizers.

Brendan Fay, co-chairman of the St. Patrick's Parade in Queens, which was founded as an inclusive parade, said he was hopeful Quinn could pave the way for gays and lesbians to march openly at the Fifth Avenue event. Fay said he would surprised if she marched without seeking changes in policy.

"I think people are reflecting on the issue and on Christine Quinn and whether she marches or not," said Fay, a gay activist. "In a way, she embodies and raises the question for all of us."

A spokesman for the Manhattan parade, organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, could not be reached for comment Thursday. One parade organizer said that traditionally the City Council speaker is among the elected officials invited to participate and that the parade allows anyone to march as long as they are not part of an organized gay group with a banner.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to march in the Fifth Avenue parade, as he has done annually.

Guest Op Ed: These Irish Eyes Won't Be Smiling On St. Pat's Day

Courier Life

March 9, 2006

By Christopher Murray

The afternoon of Sunday, March 19th will mark the thirty-first anniversary of the Brooklyn Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, a festive and spirited showing of Irish pride and community cohesion. In the over ten years I’ve lived on Bartel Pritchard Square in the Windsor Terrace section of South Park Slope where the parade starts, I have never attended the parade.

Although I wear the map of Ireland on my face, love the stories of my wild and wonderful Irish uncles, and cherish the literature and traditions of the Emerald Isle, I have neither marched in nor watched the parade. And while I represent my community and neighboring Sunset Park on Community Board 7 and am active in civic organizations all over the wonderful borough of Brooklyn, this year will not be any different. I won’t march for the simple reason that I’m not welcome in the parade.

As one of the many, many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Brooklyn, I remain excluded from this community celebration of my ethnicity which welcomes groups to march in the parade by invitation only and pointedly refuses all overtures from Irish gay and lesbian groups to join the festivities.

In fact, parade organizers have in the recent past added insult to exclusion, with one main parade organizer in 2003 confronting would-be gay participants to say “You’re not marching in this parade. You’re fags and you’re gay and you’re not marching.”

Things have even turned uglier in previous years. Peaceful protests at the parade culminated one year with the arrest of several gay protesters including gay Irish activist Brendan Fay and District Leader Alan Fleishman who joined the march at Bartel Pritchard Square.

While the Brooklyn parade’s exclusionary practices still sting, the LGBT community in Brooklyn is heartened that the vast majority of politicians representing the borough decline to march in the parade in solidarity with the idea that discrimination and prejudice based on sexual orientation or gender identity is a relic of the past.

And while the Fifth Avenue St. Patrick’s Day parade down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan remains aligned with the Roman Catholic church’s sadly intolerant position on homosexuality – all the sadder for that institution’s recent and continuing scandals regarding sexual abuse and misconduct among the clergy – the silver lining shown in our sister borough of Queens this past weekend at the St. Pat’s for All Parade in Sunnyside.

This inclusive parade had as its theme this year “Cherishing all the Children of the Nation Equally” and welcomed all comers including Mayor Bloomberg, openly gay City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and noted Irish author of Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt along with his brothers Malachy, Michael and Alfie.

While I defer to none in recognition of the pre-eminence of Brooklyn as the most magnificent of the boroughs of New York City, I admit to being jealous of Queens one day a year when they outstrip us in terms of their showing of tolerance, generosity and panache in regards to how they celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

I look forward to the year hopefully soon when cold hearts unclench and I can march alongside my neighbors who love Brooklyn as much as I do and who share Walt Whitman’s notion that “a great city is that which has the greatest men and women” as we find togetherness and a sense of shared community in our identities, and not difference and separation.

Christopher Murray is the Co-President of Lambda Independent Democrats, Brooklyn’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Political Club. For more information, go to www.lidbrooklyn.org.

©Courier-Life Publications 2006

Gay and Irish, Quinn Faces Tough Choice Over Parade

The Sun

March 7, 2006

By Jill Gardiner

Seven years ago, Christine Quinn was arrested for protesting the annual St.Patrick's Day Parade because it does not allow gay and lesbian groups to march.

The newly elected City Council speaker, who is openly gay and Irish, has a difficult decision this year as leader of a body that historically has participated in the Fifth Avenue event. Yesterday, the chairman of the parade, John Dunleavy,said Ms.Quinn is "more than welcome to march" and that he believes she would do so as the head of the council's delegation.

"I have the utmost faith that she will respect the views of the parade and we will respect her,and that she'll march up and lead the City Council as speakers have done in past years," Mr. Dunleavy said during a telephone interview.

Ms. Quinn in the past called for elected officials to sit out the parade until it allows gay and lesbian groups to march. After gaining national recognition as the first female and the first openly gay council member to be elected speaker, some are wondering whether she'll try to broker a compromise with parade organizers.

A spokeswoman for Ms. Quinn, Maria Alvarado, said yesterday that the speaker "certainly hopes to be able to march, but there are no formal negotia tions at this time." Ms. Alvarado said they would see what happens between now and March 17.

Mr. Dunleavy said he has not talked to the speaker, but that individuals have been free to march in the parade for some time - as long as they aren't part of an organized gay group marching with a banner. Mr. Dunleavy also tried to soften the parade's past position by pointing out that it doesn't ban gays and lesbians, but simply does not allow any advocacy group. In 2004, one parade sponsor, Boru Irish vodka, was kicked out of the parade after it had sponsored a gay-friendly parade in Queens a week earlier.

A gay activist, Brendan Fay, who was arrested with Ms. Quinn in 1999 while protesting the parade, predicted there would be "many conversations" and "some deep soul searching" in the coming days as the speaker contemplates what to do. He also said that it would be "quite a step forward" for the parade organizers to have Ms. Quinn participate given that she is the most prominent gay leader in the city.

Mr. Fay, a founder of the Queens parade, said participation by Ms. Quinn could have profound implications and that she "could be the leader who moves the ongoing conflict toward a resolution."

"I remember the arrests, the animosity, and the deeply held prejudices that continue to have ramifications in the Irish community and in the gay community, and it always resurfaces at this time of year," he said.

Still, Mr. Fay expressed mixed feelings, saying that exclusion of gay groups is "tragic" and that nobody should have to hide their identity when they march.

His comments highlight the delicate nature of the parade for all elected officials. Mayor Bloomberg has come under fire from gay groups in the past for participating. Ms. Quinn's predecessor, Gifford Miller, skipped the parade.

Ms. Quinn, however, is in a unique position, given that she has spent much of her career fighting for gay and lesbian equality.That could give her more leeway in setting a new precedent.

A professor of public affairs at Baruch College, David Birdsell, said Ms. Quinn's position as speaker could ramp up the pressure on parade organizers to loosen their restrictions. He said it would be difficult for her to march in the very parade she's protested unless the organizers make changes.

"It's tricky," he said."If it's framed as Chris marches, but she does so under our relatively restrictive rules, than it looks like she capitulated to the niceties of position. On the other hand if it is the parade that muzzles itself ... that is something that looks much more like a compromise."

The McCourts Take The Lead

NY Newsday

January 31, 2006

By Dennis Duggan

The Brothers McCourt aren't big on parades and especially on the biggest and oldest of them all, the daylong St. Patrick's Day Parade up Fifth Avenue. "Angela's Ashes" author Frank McCourt once dismissed the grand march, saying that "if you threw a bomb at this ghastly assemblage, you would wipe out the cream of Irish mediocrity."

So why then, have the McCourts - Malachy, Frank, Mike and Alphie - agreed to lead this year's inclusive parade in Queens?
Outspoken gay activist Brendan Fay tells me that "We had a long list of names to consider and we agreed Malachy was our man. He has always supported us. When I called to tell him, he said he would march, but that he wanted his brothers to march with him and so they will."

"There will be an avalanche of McCourts at the parade," says Malachy McCourt, 74, now appearing in a one-man show, "You Don't Have to be Irish," at the Irish Repertory Theatre on West 22nd Street.

I asked Malachy why he had agreed to lead the much smaller Queens parade. He quoted the late City Council President Paul O'Dwyer, who told him that the larger Fifth Avenue affair "is guided solely by the question, 'Who can we keep out of this parade?'"

For Fay and Ellen Duncan, an Irish immigrant and a working nurse, who co-founded the Queens parade in Sunnyside and Woodside seven years ago, the question is not who can be kept out of the parade, but who can be brought into it. "We celebrate diversity," says Fay, "and so do Malachy and his brothers Frank and Alphie and Michael."

Fay, who is openly gay, decided to found the smaller parade in response to the systematic exclusion of a gay pride contingent along Fifth Avenue.

Despite the prestigious honorees, not everyone in Queens welcomes the annual parade in their borough, which wends its way through once overwhelmingly Irish neighborhoods. Some parishioners at Queen of Angels Church, a Catholic congregation along the route, which begins in Sunnyside and culminates in Woodside, have openly protested the parade, and groups of hecklers would just as soon see it disappear.

The Queens parade, which steps off on March 5 at 12:30 p.m., is a must for city politicians, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and national politicians such as Sen. Hillary Clinton. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the first woman and first openly gay person elected to the leadership post, will be honored along with the McCourts and Duncan.

Duncan, who works at the Mary Manning Walsh Home for the Aged in Upper Manhattan, says that "the McCourts are the premier Irish family in New York City today and it was a coup for us to be able to honor them.

"Everyone in the Irish community knows them," she said, "and so this brings a large amount of Irishness to the parade."

Fay is working on a film documentary on Father Mychal Judge, the fire department chaplain who died during the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001, after he was struck by falling debris. Fay says he is hoping to get Irish actor Gabriel Byrne, now appearing on Broadway, or Ian McKellen to narrate the documentary.

It isn't easy to start a new parade, what with permits and costs and needed community approval, but in the summer of 1999, Fay and Duncan met at a Spanish restaurant in Queens. They talked about starting a new parade that would celebrate diversity. Duncan followed up and got several groups including unions and others to help sponsor it.

"I'd had it up to here after being arrested for being gay when I tried to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade on Fifth Avenue." So what began as dream in 1999 is now, seven years later, a reality and a parade that opens its arms to people who wouldn't feel comfortable with the much older, much bigger parade in Manhattan.

So, in a way, the success of this little parade mirrors the success story of the McCourts, an extraordinary clan who made it through the miserable childhood that Frank McCourt chronicled so eloquently in "Angela's Ashes." That book won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award, an amazing trifecta. "Angela's Ashes" was followed by "'Tis," and this year by "Teacher Man." All three books made it to the top of the New York Times Bestseller List, a rare feat indeed.

"I am not living the American Dream; I am living the American fantasy," says Frank McCourt.

On March 5 he will be at the head of the Queens parade, along with his three brothers and Ellen Duncan, whose perseverance turned what began as a kind of fantasy into a well-established parade in Queens, a borough that itself celebrates diversity each and every day.

St. Patrick's Day Parade Touts Unity in Sunnyside

Times Ledger

March 10, 2005

By Matthew Monks

Unity was the theme of the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Sunnyside Sunday, with homosexuals, Boy Scouts, civic groups, marching bands and politicians participating in the event .

"Welcome to New York City's inclusive St. Patrick's Day parade," event founder Brendan Fay announced to a crowd of several hundred marchers. "We're here to celebrate the spirit of Ireland and our Celtic heritage."

Revelers universally derided Manhattan's better-known St. Patrick's Day parade that bans gay marchers.

"They don't let other groups march," said Yuri Cantor, 26, of Manhattan, who was marching with about a dozen self-described anarchists who carried a black banner featuring the anarchy symbol inside a green shamrock. "It's really quite repulsive - that type of behavior and sentiment."

Cantor embraced the unity of the Sunnyside parade while distributing flaming pink fliers advocating "the elimination of imposed social hierarchy ... We stand for the creation of a new society without borders and against the bosses, both orange and green."

As divisive as that might sound, the dissidents were welcomed with open arms.

"We don't exclude anyone," said Woodside resident Lillian Gross, of the Western Queens Independent Democrats.

"We believe in civil rights," added her friend, Gaye Fruscione, 42, of Briarwood.

The Manhattan parade does not, said Keith Mulet, 19, who marched with Astoria's Generation Q, a drop-in center for gay youth that carried a rainbow-emblazoned banner.

"They're ignoring that we exist. Just ignoring us doesn't mean we're going away," Mulet said. "We have every right to be gay and Irish."

And in remarks before the procession, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said to raucous applause that homosexuals were guaranteed another right: "We need to make sure the city opens itself up to everybody. Opportunity means marriage should be available to everyone."

While the mayor did not march, other politicians did, including City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside), state Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) and New Paltz Mayor Jason West, who was arrested after officiating several same-sex marriages .

Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.

Queens St. Pat's Now a Must-Show

Gay City News

March 10-16, 2005

By Winnie McCroy

The cold winds sweeping through Sunnyside, Queens on the afternoon of March 6 may have kept some celebrants inside their homes, but it did not prevent a host of politicians, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, from showing up for the sixth annual St. Pat’s For All gay-inclusive parade.

The event has become a political barnstorming alternative to the controversial Fifth Avenue parade in Manhattan, controlled by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a group that has steadfastly refused to allow gay and lesbian-identified contingents to march.

This year it was also a chance for the mayor to reconcile with the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community after his February 5 decision to appeal a pro-gay marriage ruling the day before by Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohen, a move that has made politics very local for the city’s queers.

Unlike many, though not all, Democratic leaders, Bloomberg marches both in Queens and on Fifth Avenue. The LGBT community had successfully convinced most Democrats to boycott the March 17 parade, though Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, during her 2000 election drive, departed from that emerging tradition.

Clearly pleased that Bloomberg had arrived to participate in the parade, its longtime organizer, Brendan Fay, an Irish gay and AIDS activist, said, “I think it is very good that the mayor is coming to our all-inclusive parade,” adding, “but we wish he would really support our collective equality and work with us on the marriage issue.”

Fay said he intended to use his time with the mayor to challenge him on his appeal of the Ling-Cohen ruling that ordered the city clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

“We’ll have to loudly communicate to this mayor that if he’s really with us, if he wants to walk in our parade, he has to walk with us as well on all the other days,” said Fay.

In his February 5 statement, Bloomberg said he personally supports same-sex marriage rights and would push for legislation recognizing it in Albany. He has also asked that his appeal be expedited by being heard immediately in the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals. No decision on that request has yet been made by the court.

Noting that Bloomberg will also march on May 17 in Manhattan, Fay said, nonetheless, “it is right that he come, celebrate with us and listen to our concerns and our issues.”

Of course, Bloomberg did not have the field to himself. Two of his potential Democratic rivals in November—City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Manhattan Borough Pres. C. Virginia Fields—also came out for Sunday’s march, and two others—former Bronx Borough Pres. Fernando Ferrer and Brooklyn Congressman Anthony Weiner—attended a post-march celebration at the Saints & Sinners bar in Woodside.

In Sunnyside, as workers filled balloons for an orange, white and green arch, the colors of the Irish national flag, and volunteers searched for marchers to carry colorful puppets, a Queens Democratic district leader, Daniel Dromm, a longtime gay activist who was a co-founder of the borough’s June LGBT pride festivities, took a moment to express his own mixed feelings over Bloomberg’s participation.

“On one hand, it is good that we have the office of the mayor represented here,” said Dromm. “On the other hand, I have been upset with his stand on many issues. I don’t see how you can say you support gay marriage and then you go out and fight against it. He’s been bad on the Equal Partner Benefits bill, he’s been bad on the Dignity for All Students bill, and also I don’t like his education stuff.”

Dromm referred to laws enacted by the City Council over mayoral vetoes that provide benefits to the partners of LGBT employees working for contractors doing business with the city and an education measure that addresses bullying in the public schools and includes specific protections for queer youth. Bloomberg is currently challenging the contractor law in a lawsuit.

Many of Sunday’s participants echoed the sentiments articulated by Dromm, who is a public school teacher.

From a stage set up at the end of the parade route, Bloomberg attempted to explain his marriage appeal decision in words that emphasized his support for LGBT rights.

“This is a time of the year when we really should be making sure this is a city of opportunity,” the mayor said. “Opportunity means jobs, opportunity means no crime, opportunity means good schools and I happen to believe that opportunity also means that marriage should be available to everyone. The city is trying to do what we can to understand what the state law really means, and we have to make sure that the city opens itself up to everybody, and I think this parade is one of the ways to do it.”

Bloomberg’s words, however, did not silence his Democratic critics.

Christine Quinn, a lesbian city councilwoman from Manhattan, who marched with Speaker Miller, whose mayoral bid she strongly supports, said, “I think of course it’s nice that the mayor comes, but we can’t forget that he also marches down Fifth Avenue in a parade that doesn’t let us in.”

Quinn then went after the mayor for being a political hypocrite.

“In some ways, this parade is in the talk-is-cheap category,” she said, adding that if the mayor “really believed that law is so unclear that it needed to be decided on by the state’s highest court, he could have issued the marriage licenses and appealed.”

Asked how the mayor’s decision resonated among the city’s LGBT community, Quinn replied, “His decision to appeal was extraordinarily disappointing.”

In her remarks, Fields, the Manhattan borough president, also distinguished between participating in the Queens parade and joining the Manhattan event.

“I am here today to support the lesbian and gay community and to say again that exclusion from the parade is something that I hate,” she said. “And I don’t believe that any group should be excluded from the parade because of maybe different beliefs, lifestyles or ideology.”

City Councilwoman Margarita Lopez, a lesbian who is running for Manhattan borough president, said she turned out Sunday due to her “enormous respect to the Irish community” and “because it’s a parade that’s inclusionary.”

“The parade sends a message that everyone is welcome,” Lopez said. “Be black, be white, be Latino, be a woman or a man or be gay, you are welcome in this parade.”

Author Malachy McCourt noted that “it’s very unfortunate that all people who are of human descent can’t get together and celebrate all our ethnic heritages one way or another, and that’s what I think is beautiful about being here. Very decent, good people have organized this and it’s a great memory of Mychal Judge,” the gay fire department chaplain killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

As groups including the All City High Schools Marching Band, the New York Irish Dance Academy, Staten Island Stonewall, Dignity USA and Dignity New York and the Boys Club stepped off into the march, other elected officials echoed the sentiment that having an inclusive St. Patrick’s Day parade was very important.

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said, “This is the first parade of the season and the fact that it’s inclusive is extremely important. I believe that all parades should be inclusive—we should include everyone who wants to march regardless of anything, because parades are fun and they’re all about celebrating.”

As the parade made its way down Skillman Avenue, the crowds cheered the marching bands, performers and many groups that had assembled. A lively bunch of anarchists, dressed in black and green and waving black flags that featured a shamrock overlaid with the anarchy symbol, kept the end of the parade festive with drumming, flag waving and good-natured chaos.

Some of those same protesters will join the activists who plan to protest the Fifth Avenue parade at 10:30 a.m. on March 17, at the east side of Fifth Avenue and 58th Street.

Mayor's Heckler Works for State Senate Leader

Newsday

March 8, 2005

By Joshua Robin

A man who heckled Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a gay-inclusive St. Patrick's Day parade is a staff employee in the office of State Senate Minority Leader David Paterson.

Allen Roskoff, a longtime gay rights activist who called Bloomberg a "bigot" several times Sunday at the Woodside event before the mayor's security detail confronted him, is a special assistant to Paterson, a Democrat, according to state records.

"Allen's characterization of the mayor as a bigot is not representative of our office," Michael Jones-Bey, chief of staff for Paterson, said after learning from a reporter what Roskoff had said.

Roskoff, who is paid $85,000 a year as a liaison to the gay and lesbian communities, previously worked for several city and state officials in a public career that stretches to 1972.

He is also an unpaid operative for City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, a likely mayoral contender.

In the telephone interview, Roskoff, 55, defended his heckling of Bloomberg, a Republican, saying, "when I am on my own time, I represent myself."

"I was there totally independent of my doing anything here," he added, speaking from his downtown Manhattan office.

Roskoff said he objected to Bloomberg's stance on same-sex marriage. The mayor has said he personally supports that right, but last month, he nonetheless appealed a State Supreme Court court ruling that would allow marriages here.

Bloomberg said at the time that he wants the state's highest court to decide on the ruling's legality before the city issues licenses.

Roskoff yesterday accused the mayor of talking "out of both sides of his mouth."

A Bloomberg spokesman declined to comment.

Steve Sigmund, a spokesman for Miller, said, "The bottom line is Gifford Miller is a positive person, so he thinks that kind of language is unnecessary and inappropriate."

Staff writer Glenn Thrush contributed to this story.

Applause Greets Bloomberg at St. Pat's For All

The Sun

March 7, 2005

By Jill Gardiner

The annual Queens St. Patrick's Parade, also known as the St. Pat's for All Parade, has become something of a political minefield for Mayor Bloomberg.

Yesterday the mayor was greeted with applause at the event, the only St. Patrick's Day parade in the city that permits gay and lesbian groups to march with their banners, yet when he left, some participants painted his appeal of last month's ruling on same-sex marriage as woefully hypocritical.

The mayor of New Paltz, Jason West, who made national headlines for marrying 25 same-sex couples last year, said the mayor had "decided to side with those for whom bigotry and hatred and exclusion are more important."

"I think that Mayor Bloomberg is an embarrassment at this point," Mr. West, 27, said as the parade wended its way through the middle-class neighborhood of Sunnyside. Last year the New Paltz politician said he hoped his New York City counterpart would join his cause.

After nearly a year of public pressure, Mr. Bloomberg, a Republican, announced in early February that he supported giving legal recognition to same-sex marriage - a position that even some prominent Democrats have not taken. "People have the right to love, to live with, and to marry whoever they want," the mayor said.

In the next breath, however, Mr. Bloomberg declared that he would appeal a ruling by a state Supreme Court judge in Manhattan that would compel the New York City clerk to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. The mayor said it simply did not make sense to issue licenses without a verdict from the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals. Without it, he said, the city would run the risk of having to nullify the certificates.

Before taking a helicopter to Staten Island yesterday for a second St. Patrick's Day Parade, Mr. Bloomberg told the crowd he shared their view on same-sex marriage and that they differed only on how to achieve that goal.

The mayor's stance on the issue has given his opponents in the upcoming mayoral election more ammunition, adding to a stockpile that includes Mr. Bloomberg's insistence that the city should subsidize a domed stadium on Manhattan's West Side and what other candidates characterize as his failed overhaul of the public-school system.

Yesterday, nearly all of the mayoral candidates split their time between the Queens and Staten Island parades, shaking hands and showing their faces in two politically important swing areas of the city. The speaker of the City Council, Gifford Miller; the borough president of Manhattan, C. Virginia Fields; the former borough president of the Bronx, Fernando Ferrer, and Rep. Anthony Weiner all made appearances in Queens - the last two at a bar called Saints & Sinners, just as the parade wrapped up.

While the Staten Island parade route was packed with cheering crowds, the "inclusionary" Queens parade had only a few stragglers holding signs on the sidewalks and some vendors offering green balloons, necklaces, and hats. The event gets a regular procession of elected officials and political candidates who want to show their support for gay issues and serves as mechanism to protest the city's largest St. Patrick's Day parade on March 17 along Fifth Avenue, which bars gay groups.

At Staten Island, Mr. Bloomberg said this was the first of three weekends of St. Patrick's Day events and proclaimed: "Everyone has a little Irish today." He also said people were "screaming" along the parade route in support of the stadium.

During the earlier parade, the local Democratic district leader, Daniel Dromm, said he was glad the mayor came - Mayor Giuliani never attended - but said he wanted a regime change in City Hall.

"I don't see how somebody who believes in gay marriage can then turn around and, you know, appeal the decision that was made," he said.

The founder of the parade, Brendan Fay, said the mayor had gone out of his way to be at the parade every year and to invite the leadership to Gracie Mansion. Mr. Fay said, though, that he was still disappointed with the mayor's stance. The mayor of Nyack, John Shields, who was wearing a Kelly-green scarf and a black top-hat adorned with a gay-pride rainbow, called Mr. Bloomberg "cowardly."

"I think Mayor Bloomberg is trying to ride both sides of the fence, and I think he's a cowardly elected official," said Mr. Shields, who is openly gay. He is appealing a court ruling that said he could not administer gay marriages.

The issue has been a tricky one for Mr. Bloomberg. The ruling by Justice Doris Ling-Cohen put him in the position of having to choose between courting Democrats, the overwhelming majority of city voters, or appeasing Republicans, whom he needs to win the primary and to rally behind him in the general election. It is, though, also shaping up to be a thorny issue for some of his Democratic challengers, who will need support from conservative Democrats who don't support gay marriage.

Yesterday, Council Member Christine Quinn of Manhattan, who brought a plate of waffles to a news conference last year to chide the mayor for "waffling" on gay marriage, said, "It's certainly nice that the mayor came" but parade appearances "fall into the talk-is-cheap category."

The Queens parade's lone bagpipe player, John Maynard, said he is gay but he agreed with the mayor's appeal. Riding the No. 7 train back to Manhattan after the parade, Mr. Maynard said: "I go along with it. It's probably a good way to do it. If you get the courts, you can settle it once and for all."

Gay-Friendly Irish Distiller Punished

New York Blade

March 19, 2004

By Atiya Jones

The annual March 17 St. Patrick’s Patrick Parade, a New York tradition, seemed to go on without any problems this year. But again this year, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the group that organizes the parade, has brought the issue of Irish gay participation to the fore.

For the past several years, the Fifth Avenue parade has been mired in controversy over the issue of not allowing an Irish gay group to participate. This time, the controversy concerns the parade’s organizers dropping of one of its sponsors, Boru Vodka.

Boru Vodka, the Queens-based Irish vodka company, was dropped as a sponsor from the Fifth Avenue parade because of its involvement in the gay-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day Parade, actually held on Sunday, March 7, through Sunnyside, Queens.

John Dunleavy, 66, one of the chairs of the Fifth Avenue parade, told the New York Daily News, “If they want to support that parade run by the gays, that’s fine with us. But we want no part of it, even though it’s a very good vodka.”

Brendan Fay, a co-chair for the inclusive parade, was shocked by the statements made by Dunleavy and James Barker, another chair of the Fifth Avenue parade. “Michael Bloomberg was at our parade too,” he said. “Are you telling me that they don’t want the mayor to walk in the Fifth Avenue parade?”

The inclusive parade is usually funded by donations from people in the community. So organizers were delighted to find out that Boru Vodka wanted to sponsor this year’s parade. Boru gave the parade $2,400, which paid for an all-city youth marching band, a large Brigid of Ireland puppet, and DeJimbe, a band that fuses African drum and Irish pipes.

“They were happy to see their money go to those things,” said Fay. “We couldn’t survive without sponsors like Local 1199, Dignity NY, and Boru Vodka.”

This year’s inclusive parade highlighted Irish women’s leadership in the peace process and political life of Northern Ireland. It’s the only St. Patrick’s Day parade in the city that celebrates not only diversity in the Irish community, but throughout Queens as well. Other ethnic groups, including Koreans, Mexicans and Peruvians, all participated in the parade.

“It’s not a ‘gay parade,’” said Fay. “ It reflects the diversity of the community.”

Fay finds it embarrassing such a prominent representative of the Irish community could speak so negatively about Irish people and an Irish company simply for trying to help another parade.

While Barker has gone on record saying that he doesn’t want to talk to anyone who organizes the inclusive parade, Fay says he’d like to meet with Barker and Dunleavy so that they can learn what the parade is really about.

The Streets Were Paved With Green

March 11-18, 2004

By Christa Weber

The streets of Sunnyside were green with pride on March 7, as the fifth annual "St. Pats For All" inclusive parade made its way down Skillman Avenue to 61st Street. There were no protesters this year as members of the gay community joined Irish dancers, puppeteers, stilt walkers, community groups reflective of the ethnic mix of Queens and thousands of spectators, the largest crowd to date.

"This is an all-inclusive parade that brings the community together and reflects the ethnic and spiritual diversity of the borough," said Brendan Fay, co-chair. "I’m very proud that the parade is in Queens because it’s one of the most diverse geographic sites in the US. Immigrants, myself included, arrive in Queens with their hopes and dreams."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has marched in the parade since his election, and New Paltz Mayor Jason West (who has performed marriage ceremonies for the gay community) both marched in the parade, along with many local politicians honoree Frank Durkan, an Irish civil rights activist, and Siobhan Kyne, a leader of the Irish community in Queens.

The seed that grew into the idea for the parade was planted five years ago in an Irish pub in Woodside when Fay and Eileen Duncan came up with the idea of a celebration that welcomes everyone. That was in response to Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Fifth Avenue which excludes gay groups from marching under their banners. The all-inclusive parade, co-chaired by Fay and Barbara Heffernan Mohr, is the only parade to welcome lesbians and gays.

Everyone got the chance to be a little Irish this year as ethnic groups like Peruvians, Koreans, Mexicans, Ecuadorians and Native Americans marched with international musicians like DeJimbe, a band from Dublin that blends Irish music with African drumming, the Niall O’Leary School of Irish Dance and the Lavender and Green Alliance, a New York Irish lesbian and gay group.

Women’s leadership was celebrated and Northern Ireland Assemblywoman, Patricia Lewsley, the newly-elected chair of the Social Democratic Labor Party, and Bronagh Hinds, Northern Ireland Women’s Initiative’s Northern Ireland director and 1999 European Woman of the Year, attended to highlight Irish women’s leadership in the peace process in Northern Ireland.

This year’s parade was the first to have corporate sponsorship, a fact reflective of how quickly the all-inclusive parade has grown. Local 1199 (Health and Hospital Workers Union) and Boru Vodka, a Queens-based Irish distributor, both helped make the day a success. The post-party was held at the Tower View on Roosevelt Avenue, where Salvivo, a local band from Sunnyside, gave everyone a reason to dance.

"This parade is becoming yet another tradition in celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in New York City," said Fay. "It is a moment to be filled with the spirit of the city and the borough, the spirit of inclusion, hospitality and diversity. It sends the message that inclusion is good and allows us to learn to walk together."

On March 6, the Rockaways hosted its own all-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day parade, which has traditionally been one of the largest in New York City. Two of the area’s favorite politicians, Councilman Joe Addabbo and Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, were on hand to greet the thousands of spectators. Dr. Geraldine Chappey, a democratic district leader, was also out showing off her Irish pride.

Same-Sex Marriage Focus of St. Pat’s Parade

Times Ledger

March 3, 2004

By Alex Davidson

Barbara Mohr and Brendan Fay energize participants at the fifth annual Sunnyside St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and many Queens politicians Sunday in Sunnyside for a St. Patrick’s Day parade that turned into a rally calling for the legalization of same-sex marriages.

Bloomberg marched alongside Mayor Jason West, the 26-year-old top official in the village of New Paltz, N.Y. who became the state’s first mayor to marry same-sex couples Feb. 28.

The elected officials came to Queens as part of the fifth annual all-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day parade, the only celebration of its kind in which gays and lesbians can participate.

“What we are seeing in America today is the largest flowering of the civil rights movement this country has seen in a generation,” said West, a member of the Green Party. “And I am honored and surprised that I was put into a position to be able to articulate some of that movement.”

West, almost two weeks after initiating the same-sex marriages, has since been charged with 19 misdemeanor counts that allege he wrongly interpreted state law by allowing gays and lesbians to wed without proper licenses.

Bloomberg, a Republican who has stayed relatively quiet on the same-sex marriage issue, said he came to the parade to support the event’s diverse participants. He only offered a hint of his stance on whether or not gays and lesbians should under current law be allowed to wed.

“It (the parade) is a chance for us to say that we want civil rights for everybody,” Bloomberg said. “And clearly there are issues and if you want to get them changed, if you are successful in getting the law changed in Albany, then you can rest assured that this city will enforce the law.”

The all-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day parade in Queens was started in 2000 as an alternative to the celebration that takes place March 17 on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Gays and lesbians were excluded from those festivities and as a result Sunnyside parade co-founder Brendan Fay said he was inspired to hold an event that welcomes all people of Irish descent.

“I am very proud of what the parade has achieved,” Fay said. “I think that what we have done is create a celebration that sends a strong message of hospitality.”

This was the first year that no protesters lined the parade route’s streets, Fay said. He said it was significant that Bloomberg marched in the parade despite the mayor’s unclear position on same-sex marriages.

In speaking to the crowd, which included the Patricia Lewsley, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Miller said the current state constitution could be interpreted to allow for legal same-sex marriages. He criticized Bloomberg for not taking the lead on the issue and forcing the state to initiate legislation allowing for gays and lesbians to wed.

“I will just say that I think that this is a time when we have to stand up for equal treatment for all New Yorkers,” Miller said. “And it is very clear that gays and lesbians are not able to have the same rights under the law currently as other Americans.”

He added: “If we create second-class citizens, we are not standing up for equal protection of the laws.”

Advocates for same-sex civil marriages marched on City Hall last Thursday as dozens of gay and lesbian couples tried to obtain licenses from City Clerk Victor Robles. All the couples were denied their requests, but the issue has been left to the State Supreme Court following several lawsuits contending same-sex marriages are legal.

U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Kew Gardens) said he favors the legal avenue for gays and lesbians to obtain their marriage rights. He said other means of obtaining the right to wed might give the perception that the law is something that could selectively be followed.

“I would prefer that this (same-sex marriage) be seen as being done in an orderly fashion,” Weiner said. “Fundamental to my argument that I make to those who oppose full gay rights is this: Someone else’s right to marriage doesn’t change your relationship with your husband or wife and it doesn’t undermine society in any way.”

The parade, which started at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue, weaved through Sunnyside and ended with a fair at the Tower View in Woodside. People lined the streets to see West, Bloomberg, Miller, and cultural and social groups such as an Irish soccer club, representatives from the Mexican and Peruvian communities and Irish dancers and puppeteers.

Barbara Mohr, a co-organizer of the Queens parade for three years, said the diverse parade marchers make the parade unique among other St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

“The purpose of this parade is inclusivity,” she said.

Councilwoman Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan), one of three openly gay members of the City Council, said the all-inclusive parade was integral to advancing the rights of gays and lesbians in New York City. She criticized Bloomberg for what she called “waffling” on the issue of same-sex marriage.

“I think this is the most important parade in the city. It is the only truly inclusive St. Patrick’s Day parade in the five boroughs,” Quinn said. “This parade is the only event where the entirety of the Irish-American community is embraced.”

She said: “It is the only event that says, yes, there are Irish lesbians and gay men.”

Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by calling 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.

New Paltz Mayor Joins Gay Irish March

Irish Voice

April 15, 2004

By Georgina Brennan

JASON West, 26, the New Paltz, New York mayor who made headlines granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples last week, will be an honored guest at the gay organized St. Patrick’s parade in Woodside on Sunday, March 7.

West was arrested by the Ulster County district attorney on Tuesday for his role in marrying gay and lesbian couples which the official said was illegal.

“The local Green Party are great supporters of the parade, and they asked Mayor West to join our Irish and we are delighted he will be there,” said parade organizer Brendan Fay, 45. “It is a continuation of his ideas about equality and fairness,” added Fay.

West took office nine months ago as New York State’s first Green Party mayor. Since then, other than repairing potholes, his tenure has been run-of-the-mill.

That was, of course, until last week, when he decided to perform same-sex marriages after New Paltz’s town clerk had refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

Announcing his decision, West said state law allows him to perform the ceremonies and does not require a license for the marriage to be legally binding. About 300 couples put their names on a waiting list to be married there and the village was soon bombarded with couples eager to be married.

“It is an issue that deserves to be discussed publicly in New York State,” the part-time mayor told reporters last week. “It’s time that I added my voice and the voice of the people of the village of New Paltz to that growing chorus for fairness, equality before the law and basic family values.”

The controversial mayor will be marching in the fifth annual Queens St. Patrick’s Parade and Irish fair with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Skillman Avenue and 43rd Street in Sunnyside.

Two of the Irish community’s most prominent leaders, trial lawyer Frank Durkan from Bohola, Co. Mayo and community leader Siobhan Kyne will lead a parade that is highlighting Irish women’s leadership in the peace process and in political life of Northern Ireland.

The march is also calling for an end to the persecution of the McAllisters, the family from New Jersey which the Justice Department is seeking to deport because Malachy McAllister was involved with the IRA.

This year’s parade marks the first time that politicians from Ireland are marching. Bronagh Hinds, director of Northern Ireland Women’s Initiative, is taking part, and it is also the first to end with an after party at the Tower View in Woodside.

Among the sponsors of the parade this year are Local 1199 and Boru Vodka, a Queens-based Irish company.

Unlike the main New York City parade up Fifth Avenue on March 17, the Queens parade allows groups to march under their own banner.

“Unique among Irish gatherings in the nation, ours is open and to all who wish to share in the spirit of the day. We go out of our way to welcome the unwelcome!,” said Fay.

“More than a parade, we have become a unique expression and exploration of what it means to be Irish in New York City at the beginning of the 21st century. We expect, as in previous years, to have many from our diverse communities participate,” said Fay.

Reining in New York's Parade: Organisers of the St Patrick's Day Parade Have Banned People from Marching with Banners Identifying Themselves As Gay

The Guardian

March 14, 2003

By David Teather

It is a uniquely New York kind of row. It involves one of the endless parades that represent the teeming ethnic groups that make up the city (with the notable exception of the English) and that gridlock Fifth Avenue for much of the summer. It involves sexual politics, sensitive racial issues, the mayor and even, for good measure, a couple of cast members of The Sopranos.

Of all of the parades that take place in the city, perhaps the most widely embraced is the Irish, which will take place on Monday. Perhaps that has something to do with the preponderance of Irish bars in the city and New Yorkers' tendency to enjoy a drink. The Empire State Building, lit up in different colours at night, goes green for the occasion. Bar owners serve emerald coloured beer.

But the organisers of the St Patrick's Day Parade are a little more choosy about who they want to participate. The Ancient Order of Hibernians, which organises the parade, forbids openly gay and lesbian marchers. The Hibernians argue that the parade is protected by the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of religion, speech and assembly. That view was upheld by a federal judge in 1993 - anyone is allowed to march but people are barred from carrying banners that would identify themselves as gay.

The march causes a perennial thorny problem for the city's politicians - always sharply aware of the patchwork quilt of special interest groups that occupy different neighborhoods in the five boroughs. The first and lasttime that gay groups have marched openly in the St Patrick's Day parade was in 1991, when then Mayor David Dinkins negotiated a deal.

But the parade would no doubt have gone ahead with the minimum of fuss had it not been for the actions of Mayor Bloomberg. The gay community has argued loudly that the mayor should shun the parade. He has after all set a precedent. Two actors, Lorraine Bracco and Dominic Chianese, who feature in The Sopranos, that everyday tale of Mafia life, were barred from the Columbus Day Parade because the organisers claimed the show indulges in negative Italian stereotypes. The actors happened to be friends of the mayor. In that case he was so outraged that he chose to boycott, spending the day instead enjoying lunch with his actor pals in an Italian restaurant in the Bronx. The mayor is attempting appeasement with the gay community.

He has already attended an Irish parade in Woodside, Queens that includes gay marchers (one of three he joined before the main event in Manhattan) and will host a breakfast on Monday that gay groups are invited to. That hasn't satisfied his critics. City councilwoman Christine Quinn, at a news conference asked the mayor to invite Irish gays to march with him or not to march at all. "Why is discrimination against two actors for who they play on television worse than discrimination against an entire class of New Yorkers and Americans?" she asked.

The small parade in Queens was launched four years ago as a deliberately inclusive event - one of the lead organisers is gay Irish immigrant Brendan Fay. At the march, the mayor dodged questions and said simply: "I'm glad everybody can come and march in this parade - I wish all parades were that way."

The mayor was mildly heckled on the Queens march - but at least one of the comments might presage a tougher time from other members of the Irish community than he is getting from the gay and lesbians. A pub patron sarcastically invited the mayor to "come in for a smoke" - the ban kicks in at the end of the month. The mayor has been a supporter of gay rights. He marched in last year's gay pride parade and has openly backed a gay rights bill that has been stuck in the legislature for decades. Many feel disappointed that he wont go one step further and take some friends for lunch in one of the many restaurants displaying rainbow flags he could chose in New York's Chelsea district on Monday.

Unfolding the Banners of the Heart

NY Daily News

March 11, 2003

Over the years, thousands of gay men and lesbians have marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, the largest and oldest annual parade in the world. In years past. You've seen them there year after year, festooned with shamrocks, kilts, and Irish smiles like all the rest, but you didn't always know that they carried a secret with them, too, forced on them by a community that wasn't ready to allow them to be open about themselves and their deepest affections. They were the legions of unmarried uncles who helped carry the banners for County Galway or Cork; they were the hordes of maiden aunts who cooked the corned beef and cabbage that sustained the marchers from Leitrim or Donegal or Carlow. Some of them, God bless us, were the priests and nuns who carried the faith to a new land while secretly hiding the love that dared not speak its name within their own hearts. While all these lesbians and gay men could openly carry banners honoring their home counties or their spiritual heritage, they were forced to fold and hide away the banners from their own deep heartlands of affection.

Now we know, sadly, that hiding one's affectional identity has deep and painful consequences for both themselves and the wider community. The St. Patrick's Day Parade on Fifth Avenue is one of the last bastions in New York where institutional bigotry is allowed to trump the simple desire of men and women to be true to their own God-given affections. But there is hope: this parade, after all, has not always been the narrowly exclusive affair that it has become under the aegis of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Since 1762, when New York's Irish first stepped out in this public celebration, the parade has gone through many incarnations, as it will again. Protestants and Catholics marched together freely in many of the early parades, though that might be considered unthinkable today. Of course, gays and lesbians will march together freely and openly in the future.

After the Great Famine diaspora of the 1840s, when the Irish in Five Points and Seneca Village became despised and teeming minorities, they used the parade to claim pride in their heritage and set out on the very long road toward assimilation and respect. Having fled hunger and discrimination at home, many of our ancestors were greeted with signs that read "no Irish need apply." How ironic that the descendants of these Irish exiles continue to turn their backs on their own gay sons and lesbian daughters in 2003. Ironic that many of these narrowminded nabovs flaunt their Irishness while sporting green carnations, a sign of identity designed by Ireland's most famous gay icon, Oscar Wilde.

Many gay Irish fled a land where the old British laws defined us as criminal, where the churches defined us as "objectively disordered." Like others before us, we arrived in New York with simple dreams and hopes to flourish and be ourselves. Since 1990, members of the Lavender and Green Alliance and the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization have sought to be included in the St. Patrick's celebrations from Fifth Avenue to the Bronx and Brooklyn. We were told "no Irish gays need apply--unless you hide your identity, fold up your banners."

For over a decade now, the Irish parades have been clouded by the exclusion of gays, by protests and arrests. Of course the AOH and parade organizers have a legal right to include (and exclude) whomever they choose. However, the legal right to discriminate doesn't make it morally right.

We need to ask what message is being conveyed across these exclusionary miles of pipers and greenery? The parade is caught in a very narrow vision of who is Irish. This fosters an atmosphere of intolerance and fear. The exclusion of open gay and lesbian people is discrimination, pure and simple. There are no two ways about that. What message is being conveyed to Irish families with gay children.

Religion is often invoked as grounds for exclusion. Indded, some parades even claim to be "Catholic" events. There is nothing in Catholic theology to support this exclusion. St. Patrick, himself a slave, outcast, and foreigner, went from one corner of Ireland to the next, urging all to see God in each person. Early Celtic people welcomed the stranger in their midst, raising genuine hospitality to the status of a much honored practice. "Why fast or go on pilgrimaget when you can meet Christ in the stranger at the door?" they would ask.

Truth be told, the Hibernians do say we are allowed to march--but only if we fold the banners planted in our own heartlands, these affectionate counties of the spirit that are as much a part of our identities as geographic or ancestral ties. They say we can march, but at a dear price of silence and invisibility! That's like asking gays and lesbians to deny our own humanity. But we do exist, and we won't conceal our lives and loves to spare someone else's misplaced embarrassment. We have left the closet, and there is no turning back. Gay people are often silenced by prejudice, or silenced by suicide, or silenced by murder. Being in this parade is about breaking that silence, about moving from silence to speech.

Only in America do the old, darker attitudes hold sway. In Ireland itself, the anti-gay legislation is gone. Attitudes have changed, and the parades in the "old country" reflect this new inclusive reality. Gays and lesbians march in Cork and in Dublin. Are New York's parade organizers more Irish or Catholic than our people back home?

Four years ago, to the delight of many, the Irish community in Queens began the city's first truly inclusive St. Patrick's Day parade. It was a breakthrough moment of healing and reconciliation. At least there is one parade in New York that welcomes all to celebrate Ireland whether by birth, heritage, or affection.

Over the past few years, prominent New Yorkers, Irish and otherwise, have been staying away from the Fifth Avenue parade, a relic of a harsher, meaner era that no longer reflects the reality of the Irish experience, or our growing diversity. With our feet and our voices, many have called for reform, and have spoken out against the ongoing discrimination. The exclusion of
lesbian and gay people is out of step with modern Ireland, Celtic traditions of hospitality, and New York's spirit of diversity.

On this St. Patrick's Day, the place for lesbian and gay Irish and their loved ones in neither on the sidewalk nor in the closet, but out and proud in the heart of a diverse Irish community. On March 17 we will be at the Mayor's pre-parade breakfast. The day is not far off when we will join our people on the Avenue.

With pride in the inclusive spirit of Cork, Dublin, and Queens, in the spirit of Patrick, and in celebration of Ireland, let's unfold our banners and join our neighbors as full and loving members of the Irish community.

Brendan Fay is founder of the Lavender and Green Alliance, a New York Irish lesbian and gay group, and co-chair of the Queens St. Patrick's Day Parade.

St. Patrick's day in Woodside

Queens Courier

March 6-12, 2003

By Christa Weber

The streets of Woodside were awash with Irish pride this past Sunday, March 2, during Queensâ?? fourth annual all-inclusive St. Patrickâ??s Day parade. Originally organized by Brendan Fay as a response to Manhattanâ??s traditional parade on Fifth Avenue which excludes gay groups from marching under their banners, the parade ran down Skillman Avenue. It also ran through some pretty bad weather. While the rain, evocative of Irish mists, kept the number of participants relatively low, it didn't discourage such notable folks as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller from flaunting their green spirit. The diverse group of marchers also included the Mexican Civic Committee and the Korean American Community Empowerment Council.

The parade, believed by many to be the best St. Patrick's Day salute because it demonstrates the city's diversity and acceptance of its citizens' differences, has drawn its share of criticism. Some local Skillman Avenue residents went so far as to put up derogatory signs in their windows declaring the parade "blasphemous". The Mayor has been additionally criticized because, while he did march in the inclusive parade, he has not refused to march in Manhattan's parade. Many see this as a sign that he is in support of the exclusion of homosexuals from the traditional festivities. But even so, the tone of the responses to the Woodside event seem to be overwhelmingly positive. People feel good being included. After all, on St, Patrickâ??s day, aren't we all a little Irish?

By Stephen McKinley

Last Sunday's so-called alternative St. Patrick's Day parade took place along Skillman Avenue in Queens, under threatening rain clouds and a handful of protestors.

Several lesbian and gay groups helped organize the parade, which was started in 2000 in response to the continued exclusion of Irish gay groups from the traditional parade up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Along Skillman Avenue, the marchers were accompanied by Latin dancers and a Korean drumming ensemble, as well as De Jimbe, an Irish-African music group.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended the march, despite lobbying from a local Republican group led by Pat Hurley, the veteran campaigner for Irish immigration issues in New York. Senator Hillary Clinton also attended, with Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and Democratic Rep. Joseph Crowley.

"As Republicans, as Irish Americans and as Christians, we are upset at the mayor, and we see it as a stab in the back, and we will make sure that people take account of that when poll time comes around again," Hurley told the Echo.

On Saturday, Hurley and parade organizer Brendan Fay debated the issue of the parade on the Adrian Flannelly radio show.
"My views are so entrenched and his views are so entrenched, so there was little to be said, really," Hurley added.

Fay and other parade organizers expressed satisfaction with the event that attracted somewhat more than 1,000, up from last year.

Protestors shouted "sodomites" at the passing parade, and the Tablet, the Brooklyn and Queens Catholic diocese newspaper, had urged its readers to boycott the parade in an editorial the day before.

One house on Skillman Avenue displayed posters attacking the parade in its windows, including a statue of the Virgin Mary holding a sign that read, "A blasphemous lesbian and homosexual parade."

There were also unconfirmed reports on the day that a local radio station had been contacted by someone posing from the parade committee, stating that the parade had been cancelled. Organizers said that it was a malicious attempt to derail the parade.

"This was our third year of holding the parade," said Fay, "and it was bigger. It grows every year. It has more support from within the Irish community and local community."

Hurley said that he saw only a handful of attendees at the parade as it entered Woodside, and added that he saw none of the politicians at the close of the parade.

"It was over in about 15 minutes. The groups there had absolutely nothing to do with Irish heritage," he said, adding that "none of the politicians marched into Woodside. Perhaps they didn't have the balls."

He decried Crowley's attendance as a "major stab in the back" for Republicans and conservatives.

Hurley was not the only person displeased with Mayor Bloomberg's presence at the parade. The organization Irish Queers protested his presence, saying that he was a hypocrite, having made no commitment to boycott the Fifth Avenue parade next Saturday, March 16.

"If Bloomberg marches on Fifth Avenue, he's a bigot, plain and simple," said Pat Lavery, a member of Irish Queers, who held up signs that read "separate is not equal" at the Queens parade.

"In civil rights struggles in both Ireland and America, politicians have tried to straddle the fence when standing up for justice was not convenient," Lavery said.

Afterward, some marchers retired to Rocky Sullivan's bar, where the parade's main music attraction, De Jimbe, played. The parade had honored the memory of the New York Fire Department chaplain, Mychal Judge, who was killed on Sept. 11th.

By Paul Schindler

The struggle for the inclusion of LGBT people in the annual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in New York –– which has gone on for more than a decade and is now played out in both Manhattan and Queens –– has taken on a new hue this year with the emphasis on honoring the heroes and victims of September 11.

Nearly 1,200 marchers –– a record crowd that included Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton –– braved drizzly skies and chilly temperatures for the third annual gay-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day celebration held in the Sunnyside and Woodside sections of Queens on March 3, according to Brendan Fay, the longtime Irish American gay activist. Lavender and Green, an Irish gay group Fay helped found, has been one of the prime movers behind the Queens celebration.

This year’s parade specifically honored Father Mychal Judge, the 68-year-old Roman Catholic priest and Fire Department chaplain who died at the World Trade Center while ministering to fire fighters working to save lives. Judge, who had long been active in ministering to those living with AIDS and to gay Catholics, was himself a gay man, but in the massive media attention that attended his death, his homosexuality was not uniformly reported, and when it was it sparked a harshly negative reaction from some, including conservative elements within the city’s Irish American Catholic community.

Since its inception, the Queens parade has drawn fire from a similarly conservative crowd, and this year was no exception. In fact, several critics of the event specifically played to emotions unleashed by the tragedy of 9/11 to bash the parade’s organizers.

Patrick Hurley is a founder of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement and a Republican district leader in Woodside. In a letter aimed at convincing Bloomberg that he should not participate in the March 3 event, Hurley described the Queens parade as a “demonstration of a radical, left-wing anarchistic agenda” and “an aggressive, exhibitionist imposition of a radical homosexual agenda,” according to a report published in The Irish Echo. In a none too subtle playing of the 9/11 card, Hurley also wrote that the parade was characterized by “an aggressive anti-law-and-order, anti-police diatribe with protest groups belligerently vocal in their support of the infamous Mumia Abu Jamal, the convicted murderer of Irish-American Philadelphia police officer, Daniel Faulkner.”

Hurley’s argument was mirrored in other attacks on the parade. The Tablet, the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, after voicing the now-familiar lament that “any defense of Catholic beliefs seems to be labeled as discrimination,” went on to invoke 9/11 even more explicitly.

Advising “Irish-American Catholics to busy themselves elsewhere that day,” The Tablet wrote, “In the spirit of the aftermath of the tragedy at the World Trade Center, we further ask the public to resist the temptation to view this curiosity.”

According to Fay, Church officials have worked actively during the three years of the parade to discourage any local Church groups from participating in the event.

Another opponent of the parade, Eileen Martin, used much the same tact as Hurley and The Tablet to discourage a contingent of officials from Ireland from participating in the parade. According to Fay, when he was in Ireland at Christmas to visit his family, he invited Jimmy Mulroy, the mayor of his native town, Drogheda, County Louth, to participate in the Queens event. Martin, the president of New York’s County Louth Society, wrote to Mulroy warning him, “The local Irish-American community of Woodside/Sunnyside, which has given many members to the NYPD, has been particularly offended by
this Parade.”

When Mulroy arrived in New York at the end of February, accompanied by Drogheda fire fighters, he said that a question of “protocol” –– the lack of an invitation from New York’s Mayor –– might keep him from participating in the Sunnyside event. In fact, Mulroy was a no-show, but his participation the day before at a St. Patrick’s parade in Rockaway, without benefit of a Bloomberg invitation, was never explained.

Despite the considerable flak the event caught, Fay was more than satisfied with the result, declaring the Queens parade this year “biggest and best yet.”

The September 11 matter is also looming large in the plans by queer groups to protest the exclusion of openly gay contingents in the big parade on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, scheduled for Saturday, March 16.

The Fifth Avenue parade, like the Queens event, will also honor the heroes of 9/11. The Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization (ILGO), the granddaddy of queer Irish groups in the city that has sustained its protest against the Ancient Order of Hibernian parade organizers for more than a decade, has specifically framed its protest this year with the fallen heroes in mind.

“The St. Patrick’s Day Parade will honor heroes of September 11,” ILGO says in a recorded phone message. “We are denied our rightful place in the parade lineup. This denies us the opportunity to celebrate the heroes of September 11 and denies the existence of the many LGBT heroes and victims of 9/11.”

Asking supporters to join ILGO at the northwest corner of 53rd St. and Fifth Avenue at 9:30 a.m. on the morning of March 16, the message concludes by telling listeners that they can “help to remind the homophobic organizers and supporters of the parade that ILGO belongs in the parade and that 9/11 is every community’s tragedy.”

Aine Duggan, a spokesperson for ILGO, told The Irish Echo that because this year’s parade would honor the memory of September 11, the group faced a more complicated task than merely playing a protest role as in years past.

“We received tremendous support from the firefighters during our sidelines protest last year,” Duggan said. “Many came over to joke with us or cheer us on. Now it’s our turn to cheer them on.”

Meanwhile, Irish Queers, a group harshly critical of Bloomberg for what they say is his hypocritical stance in joining both the Queens and the Manhattan parades, appears poised to mount a more traditionally dissenting display on March 16. Urging their supporters to join a Black Flag Protest, adopting the symbol of ongoing Irish resistance to British imperialism, the group will gather on the southeast corner of 59th Street and Fifth Avenue, outside F.A.O. Schwartz, at 10:30 a.m.

Even as they promise perhaps the most strident protest of the day, Irish Queers is also mindful of the significance of the 9/11 issue in the public mind. In its letter to Bloomberg, urging him to boycott the March 16 event, the group wrote: “There are many ways to honor the victims and the rescue workers of September 11th, and there are many reasons, particularly now, to stand strong for civil rights. We hope you will choose a venue that honors all people affected by 9/11 –– queers, people of color, immigrants and others whose civil rights are under attack right now –– and which does not serve to pit the NYPD and FDNY against the people of New York City.”

One would think, given the perilous state of finances in New York these days, that the Republican Party of Woodside would have something better to complain about.

What are they complaining about, I hear you ask? Is it the budget and the planned cesation of public stop-smoking programs in the city? Is it the proposed tax increase on a pack of cigarettes? Or is it even the end of the recycling collection?

Of course it's none of the above. The Republican Party of Woodside is complaining about the inclusive St. Patrick's Day parade which will roll down the Queens streets on March 3.

One Patrick Hurley faxed us to say that the party was expressing its strong disapproval of the "St. Patrick's Day Parade," (his quotes, not mine).

However, while "strong disapproval," sounds reasonable enough, within a few sentences, Mr. Hurley is banging on about "left wing demonstrations," "imported anarchists," and the "militant advancement of the homosexual agenda." It gets better: According

to Mr. Hurley, "The extreme left is attempting to misappropriate the good name of the Irish American community of Woodside/Sunnyside in the advancement of its alien ideologies."Alien ideologies? Are gays an alien species? Is this like Close Encounters of

the Gay Kind? I think we should be told.In the midst of all this, Mr. Hurley calls on the public representatives to "reform our emasculating immigration laws,""safeguard our nation's history, values and culture," and "end the failed, degenerative philosophy of

multiculturalism." He doesn't quite say how this links to the March 3 parade, but I think I'm getting the picture. However, I have to say I'm a mite confused as to why anyone who's against multiculturalism would bother living in New York.

By Ray O'Hanlon

This weekend's Queens St. Patrick's Parade has become the latest backdrop in the evolving argument over what it means to be Irish in New York.

In one green corner is Patrick Hurley, veteran campaigner on behalf of the Irish presence in the city. In the other is Brendan Fay, also a veteran campaigner on behalf of the Irish presence in the city. Both men see themselves as active promoters of Irish social, cultural and political life in their adopted city.

Many outside observers would see numerous similarities between both men, at least in a general sense. But when it comes to the particulars of their activism, Hurley and Fay would appear to sharply diverge.

Hurley, one of the founders of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement, was leading an effort this week to persuade Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and others, to boycott Sunday's parade.

Fay, a onetime member of the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization and a founder of the Lavender and Green Alliance, said the parade will honor Fr. Mych'l Judge, the New York City Fire Department chaplain who perished in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center disaster. Fay was working overtime to have everybody in sight, regardless of sexual orientation, politics, religious or political affiliation, take part.

Mayor Bloomberg is shaping up to be one of the participants. According to a spokeswoman at the mayor's office, Megan Sheekey, Bloomberg is intent on taking part in the Sunnyside/Woodside event. "Mayor Bloomberg will be marching in every St. Patrick's parade to which he has been invited," Sheekey told the Echo.

At presstime, the number of such parades totaled five. In addition to the Sunnyside/Woodside parade, the mayor, according to Sheekey, was lined up to march in Rockaway, Throgg's Neck, the main parade in Manhattan on March 16, and the Brooklyn parade the following day.

Bloomberg's participation in the Queens parade comes despite a letter from Hurley and Ed Coyne -- district leader and president, respectively, of the Woodside branch of the Republican Party -- urging him to stay away from what Hurley in particular has long argued is nothing more than a radical left-wing demonstration.

Another mayor was has also been invited to march in the parade. Mayor Jimmy Mulroy of Drogheda, Co. Louth, was invited by Fay, a Drogheda native, to lead a contingent from the town that would include members of the local fire brigade and ambulance service.

However, Mulroy and the rescue service group's participation is now doubtful following a plea from New York's County Louth Society.

In a letter to Mulroy, the president of the Louth Society, Eileen Martin, warned Mulroy that the "self-styled Queens St. Patrick's Parade" had been, in her view, rightly described as nothing more than a demonstration with a strong anti-law-and-order theme.

Echoing the sentiments of Hurley and Coyne, Martin stated in her letter that the Fay-organized event had been used for police bashing and for ridiculing former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

"The local Irish-America community of Woodside/Sunnyside, which has given many members to the NYPD, has been particularly offended by this parade," Martin wrote.

According to Martin, the organizers would, as they have each year, present the event as a community-based, family-fun parade. "It enjoys negligible community support in terms of participation or attendance," she said in her letter.

Martin told the Echo that she wrote the letter because the society had become aware of reports back in Louth that the society would be taking part in the Queens event.

"We were . . . told that flyers were being distributed stating that we were marching," Martin said.

With regard to Mayor Mulroy and the Drogheda group's plans, Martin said it was entirely their decision.

"It's a free country and they can march where they like," she said. "But we felt that they should not be misled in any way."

Martin said that the Louth Society was conscious of the fact that the visitors would be paying their own way. The society, she said, would be delighted to include Mulroy and the Louth emergency services members in the society's contingent in the March 16 Manhattan parade.

Martin's letter, meanwhile, strongly echoed the sentiments expressed by the GOP branch's letter to Bloomberg, a document scripted by Cork native Hurley.

Hurley variously described the Queens march as a "debacle," a "demonstration of a radical, left-wing anarchistic agenda" and an event with a recurring theme, namely "an aggressive anti-law-and-order, anti-police diatribe with protest groups belligerently vocal in their support of the infamous Mumia Abu Jamal, the convicted murderer of Irish-American Philadelphian police officer, Daniel Faulkner."

Hurley also charged in his letter that the Queens parade contained "an aggressive, exhibitionist imposition of a radical homosexual agenda."

Hurley warned Bloomberg -- a former Democrat who ran for office last year as a Republican -- that his participation would "gravely offend" Irish Americans, Catholics and other religious congregations "and indeed all industrious, patriotic, law-abiding and civic-minded" people living in the Sunnyside and Woodside district.

Hurley told the Echo that he had no problem with a Queens parade in principle as long as it was what he described as a "bona fide" celebration of St. Patrick, Irish culture and Irish achievement in the U.S.

"And it would be a parade open to people of all religious affiliations and sexual orientation." he stressed.

He remains opposed, however, to what he described as the "promotion of a left-wing political agenda" in the present event, one that he said was "out of synch" with a neighborhood that supported traditional values.

"Why can't they have such a parade in the Village where they won't cause offense to anybody?" Hurley, who will be watching the parade from the sidelines this Sunday, said in reference to Greenwich Village in Manhattan.

"I have nothing against Brendan Fay. But if he genuinely wants to celebrate St. Patrick and Irish achievements in the U.S., I'm sure the Louth association would invite him to march in the main [Manhattan] parade," Hurley said.

Not surprisingly, Fay was not impressed by Hurley's arguments.

"The parade will go on. We're getting calls from all over," Fay said. "I hope people in the Irish community, here and in Ireland, will make up their own minds and come and see that what we are actually doing is being misrepresented."

Fay denied that the Queens St. Patrick's Parade was in any way anti-law and order.

"We are meeting with the 108th precinct before the parade," he said. "We are in touch with the civic and religious leadership of the borough and the city. We have observed all protocols. We are not anti-law and order and we're not anti-Catholic."

Fay's reaction to the Hurley/Coyne letter to Bloomberg, and other recent similarly worded statements issued by Hurley to the press, was emphatic. "It's a rant," he said. "[Hurley] should come and help pour tea or push a wheelchair.

"The Republican mayor of the city is not rejecting us and this is a wonderful breakthrough. Anybody in our community can come out on the day, register on the spot, and march."

Fay added that a number of other politicians are expected to march, including Sen. Charles Schumer Rep. Joe Crowley and the recently elected comptroller of New York City, Bill Thompson. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton took part in the event last year, but Fay indicated this week that Clinton's presence was less certain this weekend.

But Fay's attention is not entirely directed at major politicians. Pat Hurley, too, would be a most welcome participant as far as Fay is concerned.

"If Pat Hurley came as a participant rather than a critic, he might actually have fun," Fay said.

Sunday's parade steps off at 1 p.m. at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside.

Why does the St Patrick's Day parade on Fifth Avenue matter? Because it's the largest annual parade in the world, and it's a global showcase for defining what it means to be Irish. In previous centuries, it was the day when a weak and despised minority - the Irish in America - claimed pride in their ancestry and set out on the very long road toward assimilation and respect.

Brendan Fay says he wanted a parade that would be 'known for its hospitality and spirit'.And in the view of Brendan Fay, co-organiser of the St Patrick's Day parade in Woodside, Queens, it's amazing how many people have forgotten this.

The Irish Emigrant sat down with Brendan for an in-depth interview this week. Much has been written about the parade but little is known about the people behind it.

IE: Why did you start the Queens parade?

FAY: I got together with friends in the Irish community in Woodside in the summer of 1999. We were talking about the Fifth Avenue parade - and how tragic it was that there was no Irish celebration that would welcome Irish people in the community who were lesbian and gay. We thought how wonderful it would be to start a parade that was known for its hospitality and welcome.

IE: And so the parade began?

FAY: For me and for many, many people in the community, it was a moment of healing and a breakthrough. We continue the parade in that spirit.

IE: Why do you insist that gays and lesbians march in it under their own banners?

FAY: Every community in New York has their moment to express their ancestry and heritage. The Fifth Avenue parade no longer reflects the reality of the Irish experience, or our growing diversity. Ireland's in a new moment, we've grown. The parade allows us to celebrate Ireland whether by birth, heritage or affection.

IE: How do you answer critics who say "don't make a fuss, don't make a show of us?"

FAY: That's like asking gays and lesbians to temporarily deny their own existence. But we do exist, and there are thousands of us, and we won't conceal who we are to spare someone else's misplaced embarrassment.

Gay people are often silenced by prejudice, or silenced by suicide, or silenced by murder, and this parade is also about breaking the silence.

I got a call from someone in the Fire Department the other day who told me that this is the first time he will walk through as a gay man through his own neighborhood of Woodside - where he had learned to be silent about some of the basic truths of his own life - and now he can proudly display his pride as an Irishman, and one of New York's bravest, on equal terms.

IE: Father Mychal Judge is being commemorated in this parade.

FAY: The parade will begin with a moment of quiet reflection on September 11th - that day that changed all of our lives. We will remember Father Mychal as fire chaplain, a Leitrim man, a man who moved in and among the Irish community and the gay community, who loved us all and had a heart as big as the city he loved. In our first parade, which many stayed away from, he joined us a Franciscan and a friend and he celebrated with us. It's a moment we cherish and continue to be inspired by. This year many new faces will attend to honor him.

IE: The hostility that the parade has created in certain quarters is well-documented. How do you square up to it all?

FAY: Over the years I've learned from others. The support and encouragement of the majority of people in the community. Every day I get calls from the unions, calls coming in from pipe bands, dancers, musicians, all volunteering their time - and in increasing numbers. That inspires me.

IE: The chief of the New York City Fire Department and Mayor Bloomberg will line up in this year's parade.

FAY: The highest ranking officer in the FDNY and the Mayor of the city. They are significant developments. But my main focus is on the people of Sunnyside and Woodside and on making the parade as colorful and as much fun as possible. I urge people in the community to make up their minds for themselves, to come out and see.

IE: Why haven't more people in the Irish community come out in support of the parade?

FAY: For years the parade has highlighted discrimination and exclusion. But who's speaking out against it? There aren't enough people taking leadership on this issue.

IE: Do you think the Fifth Avenue parade has become a homophobic, sectarian parade?

FAY: The exclusion of gay and lesbian people is discrimination. There's no two ways about that. The parade is caught in a very narrow vision of what an Irish person is. Or what a Catholic is. Do you see a celebration of the Jewish contribution to Ireland in the parade? Do we see an honoring of the Anglican, or the Quaker, the Protestant - or any real gesture toward the ideals of the United Irishmen?

Many have called for reform, because the parade doesn't reflect contemporary Ireland, contemporary America, or even contemporary Catholicism. We're in a new moment. We should speak up.

IE: What do you say to people who might be thinking of marching?

FAY: I would say don't take my word for it. Come and see.

The Queens St Patrick's Day Parade steps out on March 3 at 1:00 pm, beginning on 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg said last week that he will be joining the ranks of the Queens St. Patrick's Day Parade, which allows lesbian and gay groups to participate, unlike its Manhattan counterpart.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani was invited to the Queens parade while he was in office, but never showed up. Bloomberg will be the first mayor to march in the Queens parade, which will take place March 3rd in Sunnyside.

"It reflects a new moment in our city," said Brendan Fay, founder and 2002 co-chair of the Queens St. Patrick's Day Parade. "It's indicative of his leadership that seeks to be more inclusive."

Besides Bloomberg, New York State Senator Thomas Duane, New York City Comptroller William Thompson, Assemblymember Brian McLaughlin and Borough President Helen Marshall are also scheduled to march in the Queens parade, as are City Councilmembers Hiram Monserrate, Eric Gioia, Christine Quinn andJohn Liu.

"We thought it was important that here in the city there be a St. Patrick's Day parade in which everyone would be welcome, and would have the opportunity to celebrate their Irish heritage," said Fay, who is openly homosexual.

Unable to march in the Catholic-based St. Patrick's Day Parade in Manhattan, Fay decided to start a separate parade that would be open to all, including homosexual people and those who belong to religions other than Catholicism.

Fay said he also wanted to create a parade that's Queens-based. "We gathered three years ago, and we said, "Here we are in Queens, the largest concentration of Irish are in this borough, it's a wonderful borough. Let's work and create a parade," Fay recalled.

The line of march for the 2002 Queens St. Patrick's Day Parade will include several groups that had previously been excluded from the Manhattan celebration, now in its 240th year.

One is the Lavender and Green Alliance, an organization of Irish, homosexual people also founded by Fay in 1988. He currently serves as president of the group.

Before the Queens St. Paatrick's Day Parade, Lavender & Green had sought to participate in similar parades in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, but was denied, said Tom Moulton, who is treasurer for Lavender & Green.

"I don't see why it's a big deal. Most Irish don't care that gay Irish march," Moulton said, adding that it's just the minority who control the different St. Patrick's parades in the city who feel strongly against including homosexuals.

Moulton said about 10 people from a membership of 20 will be representing Lavender & Green in the Queens parade.

Besides Lavender & Green, the Irish Lesbian & Gay Organization will be marching in this borough, as well as the Queens Parents Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays.

P-FFLAG, as the group is known, will be marching in honor of its founder, Carmel Tavadia, who was an Irish immigrant, Fay said.

Besides homosexual organizations, which Fay said made up about 10 percent of the marchers in last year's parade, religious groups who also have been excluded from the Manhattan parade will be marching in Queens.

Representatives from Irish Protestant, Irish Methodist and Irish Quaker congregations will be in the parade ranks, as will members of a Jewish synagogue.

"The Hibernians (the Catholic group that holds the Manhattan St. patrick's Day Parade) excluded many groups, " Fay said. He said Irish people on wheelchairs or otherwise handicapped were also turned away by the Hibernians until the early nineties.

St. Patrick's Day, a national holiday in Ireland, honors the 5th-century missionary who is credited with converting Ireland to Christianity. It is celebrated each year on March 17th, especially by Irish Americans, according to the Web site of an Irish group.

In last year's Queens St. Patrick's Day Parade, which took place under sleet and rain, Fay said about 1,000 people marched, and some 1,500 spectators were cheering from the sidewalks.

The 2002 Queens parade is dedicated to Father Mychal Judge, the Irish chaplain for the New York Fire Department killed in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

"Mychal was deeply concerned that we find new ways to build bridges with each other whether in Belfast or New York," said Fay, adding "He was a keen supporter of the inclusive spirit of the Queens parade."

For a third year, organizers are planning an all-inclusive St. Patrick's Day march in Queens and for a third year the mayor was invited...only this time the answer came back "yes."

Parade Co-Chair Brendan Fay admitted to the Tribune that he was a bit surprised when Mayor Mike Bloomberg's scheduler called to make arrangements, but he added that it was not a shock. He believes it is part of a message Bloomberg is sending about representing the entire City.

In March of 2000, the Queens St. Patrick's Day parade stepped into the line of march for the first time and was billed as an alternative to the Mnahattan parade organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Although the Order will not allow gay and lesbian groups to march under their own banner, the Queens parade has banners from all groups, from civic to political and from Irish immigrant to gay.

And this year's parade will have a wealth of mayors. In addition to Bloomberg, Mayor Jimmy Mulroy of Drogheda will march, leading a contingent of firefighters from the fire brigade of Drogheda, as part of the parade's tribute to those lost on Sept. 11.

The line of march on Sunday, March 3 will step off from 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside with students carrying pictures of those lost on Sept. 11. Fay noted that local families who have lost someone in the Twin Towers destruction should contact the parade organizers to become part of this tribute.

The parade itself will honor the memory of Fire Department Chaplain Fr. Mychal Judge who died on Sep. 11 administering to the injured at the Towers.

Fay described Judge as "advocate for the poor and the homeless. He was a man with a heart as big as New York."

Also scheduled to join the the line of march are NYC Comptroller William Thompson and Borough President Helen Marshall, Congressman Joe Crowley, Assemblymember Brian McLaughlin, City Councilmembers eric Gioia, Christine Quinn, Hiram Monserrate and NYS Senator Thomas Duane.

To register to march or to be involved in the opening tribute, log on to www.stpatsforall.com or call 718-670-7039 for more information.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will participate in the gay-inclusive Queens St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 3 in order to "show his support for gay rights," said spokesperson Jennifer Falk.

Gay rights advocates have expressed disappointment in Bloomberg’s earlier decision to partake in the March 16 St. Patrick's Day Parade in Manhattan. That controversial event, organized by the fraternal Roman Catholic group Ancient Order of Hibernians, prohibits gay organizations from marching under their banners.

Numerous elected officials and politicians sit out the parade because of the ban, but last month Bloomberg said he would participate.

"The mayor believes the best way to change an organization is to do so from within," Bloomberg's press secretary, Ed Skyler, told the Blade at the time. "He doesn't think that you change organizations by alienating them or ostracizing them. He thinks you change them by working with them and that's what he intends to do."

Not surprisingly, Bloomberg’s decision generated disappointment among gay rights advocates. They are, however, pleased by his decision this week to march in Queens.

"The mayor’s decision reflects a new moment in the life of the city," said Brendan Fay, co-chair of the inclusive parade.

According to Fay, this marks the parade’s third year -- and the first time a New York City chief executive has accepted organizers’ invitation to participate. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani failed to appear the previous two years, he said.

While on the campaign trail last summer, then-candidate Bloomberg was asked whether he would bypass parades that prohibit gay organizations from marching.

"I think the answer to that question is yes, but I think that's not the only answer," Bloomberg said in a sit-down interview with the Blade and other gay media. "I think that you have to address that issue and try to change the parades."

Fay said he hopes Bloomberg will be able to influence the Ancient Order of Hibernians’ policy regarding gay groups, although he added it will be a challenge.

Still, Fay said, Bloomberg’s participation in the inclusive parade is a good sign.

"I’d rather focus on the positive," he said.

Bloomberg will join Irish Mayor Jimmy Mulroy in the Queens celebration. Mulroy will lead a contingent of firefighters and EMS workers from four Irish towns to pay tribute to Fire Department of New York chaplain Mychal Judge, a gay priest who died during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

"This year’s gathering will be a poignant one given the September 11th tragedy that changed the lives of our city and world forever," said Fay.

The March 3 parade is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside, Queens.

Fay said volunteers are needed. To register or support the event, call 718-670-7039 or visit the Web at www.stpatsforall.com.

The message came from City Hall on Wednesday: "He's going to march in Queens." No one was very surprised, but many in the Irish community of Sunnyside and Woodside will be delighted. His mayoral campaign made it clear from the start that Mike Bloomberg is against discrimination.

Perhaps no less importantly, Bloomberg will also win back major political capital lost to Senator Hillary Clinton. Her decision to march in the Queens parade won her valuable points in her senatorial race. (Democrats in the past have profited politically from the often anachronistic social stands taken by the GOP). But now Mayor Bloomberg, in just his first month in office, has demonstrated that he represents the winds of change within the Republican Party in the city. His decision to march in Queens should be viewed in light of this. Now in its third year and growing both in international stature and community respect, the Queens St. Patrick's Day Parade is becoming a focal point for the true diversity of Irish values and aspirations -- and it's also bringing some much needed fun back to the parade. It is also the only St. Patrick's Day parade that attempts to engage, in any meaningful way, with the many ethnic groups that make up the totality of the Queens neighborhoods. And so for the continued cultural and political health of our community, it deserves to thrive.

Meanwhile, in a ceremony at the exclusive Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan on Wednesday, Cardinal Egan was confirmed as the Grand Marshall of the Fifth Avenue parade. In Queens, the much beloved Father Mychal Judge will be commemorated by the parade. (Father Mychal had previously made a point of marching in the Queens parade himself).

Hillary Clinton To Join Gays In Alternative Parade

Irish Times

March 03, 2000

By Joe Carroll

Hillary Clinton, who is campaigning for a Senate seat in New York, is to march in a St Patrick's Day Parade this Sunday. Unlike the main parade on March 17th, Sunday's parade will allow gays and lesbians to take part under their own banners.

Mrs Clinton aroused controversy recently when she said she would march in the main parade along Fifth Avenue on St Patrick's Day, apparently unaware that its organisers, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, bans the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organisation (ILGO) from marching as a group.

The ILGO criticised Mrs Clinton, who is noted for her strong feminist views, for her intention to march in a parade which excludes gays and lesbians if they carry a distinguishing banner.

Now Mrs Clinton has announced that she will also march in a St Patrick's parade this Sunday in the Queens area of New York which will allow gay and lesbian groups to participate with their banners. The parade has been widely portrayed as a gay and lesbian alternative to the main parade in Manhattan.

Mr Brendan Fay, a co-founder of Sunday's parade, and a member of another Irish gay and lesbian group called the Lavender and Green Alliance, said he was "honoured and delighted" by Mrs Clinton's participation and her "decision to share our message of inclusiveness". But others have criticised her intention to march still in a parade they see as "exclusive".

Mr Fay, who is from Drogheda, has denied that it will be solely a gay and lesbian parade and says that of the 77 groups expected to march, only four would be gay and lesbian. The AOH has refused an invitation to take part, he said.

Meanwhile, the ILGO has lost a court action seeking a permit to protest against its exclusion from the main parade on Fifth Avenue. But Ms Ann Maguire of ILGO said a protest would still go ahead. Ms Maguire also criticised Mrs Clinton for "trying to have it both ways" by being in the "inclusive" and "exclusive" parades.

Mr Fay said that a number of Catholic parishes in Queens would be represented and that some priests had sent donations for the parade.

Sunday's parade slogan is taken from the 1916 proclamation and reads: "Cherish all the children of the nation equally." The logo for the parade banner was designed by the artist Robert Ballagh. It can seen on the Internet on www.lavenderandgreen.com.

St. Pat's Parade Brightens Sunnyside

Queens Gazette

March 7, 2001

By Thomas Cogan

The second Sunnyside St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held Sunday, Mar. 4th and covered the same route as the first one: up Skillman Avenue from 43rd to 56th Street, then over to Woodside Avenue and on to where it crossed Roosevelt Avenue and came to an end at 61st Street.

Faced with harsh weather and knowing the list of attending political figures was less luminous than last year’s by the absence of at least one spectacular name, a person marching in the parade or simply watching it could be forgiven for thinking this year’s event would be a comparative disappointment. As it turned out, the weather could have been worse and the marchers appeared more interested in contributing to the idealistic spirit of the parade and having a good time than in paying attention to famous guests or media coverage/ The second St. Patrick’s Parade turned out to be just a parade, and when it was over, a success.

"We’re kind of moderate and we represent the community," is the way Brian Keelan, secretary of Branch 294 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, described his union local, which gave its endorsement to the parade and was represented by a delegation. "Some will say the parade’s a bunch of left-wingers," he continued, "but I think most of my union probably voted for Bush." Some would also say that parade organizers describe the event as "all inclusive,"–a euphemism for gay and lesbian groups marching, especially since the parade grew out of a decade-long, repeatedly unsuccessful effort to persuade the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee in Manhattan to allow a gay/lesbian Irish group to appear in the Mar. 17th parade. But while there were gay and lesbian contingents in the Sunnyside parade, and it would have been odd if there hadn’t been, there were also community and ethnic groups who weren’t spokespersons for the gay/lesbian cause, though no adversaries of it either. Perhaps most striking was the delegation of Falun Data, bearing the motto "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance." These well-known "enemies" of the Chinese state can be expected to rally to the all-inclusive cause since it’s plainly their cause too.

Former First Lady Hillary Clinton sent her regrets, so this year’s march wasn’t delayed by camera crews and interviewers straining to get a sound bite from the new United States Senator as they did last year. The parade stepped out at about 1:20 p.m., with a plaid-kilted bagpiper filling the air with "The Irish Minstrel Boy." Not far behind her were Mark Green and Alan Hevesi, two mayoral candidates who put in an appearance. Both started but did not finish. On 56th Street, just as the bagpiper reached Woodside Avenue, Green took his leave: Hevesi had left a short time earlier. The other legislators, Assemblymember Brian McLaughlin, retiring City Councilmember Walter McCaffrey and Assemlymember Michael Cohen among them, and City Council hopeful Joe Heaphy, among other candidates whose entourage was about half a block long, marched to the terminal point, Woodside at 61st Street. There they were able to turn around and await the arrival of the rest of the marchers who included the following: A Statue of Liberty on stilts, clad in bright kelly green and bearing a sign saying "Liberty for all Ireland;" the teenage troupe of the Korean-American Voters’ Council, again this year doing a routine of drumming and dancing; members of the Niall O’Leary School of Dance, arms firmly pressed to their sides, doing routines that would cost a lot to see on Broadway; the Hungry Marching Band, a young and literally brassy bunch, drumming, blowing saxophones and swinging madly and many other dancers, musicians, puppeteers, protestors and plain citizens, all looking happy to be where they were.

Inclusive St. Patrick's Parade Faces Exclusion

The New York Times

March 3, 2001

By Dean E. Murphy

One telephone caller made the sound of a gun, leaving the message, ''BANG! BANG! BANG!'' on the answering machine. Dozens of invitations were extended to Roman Catholic churches and schools across Queens, but only a handful were even acknowledged. Finding a priest from Queens willing to give the opening invocation has been an impossible task.

Tomorrow, for the second year in a row, a St. Patrick's parade that includes gay and lesbian marchers is to be held in the traditionally Irish neighborhoods of Woodside and Sunnyside, Queens. The event was conceived last year as an ''inclusive alternative'' to the annual St. Patrick's Day parade on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, which was beset by highly charged clashes over the exclusion of openly homosexual groups throughout the 1990's.

But the organizers of the alternate parade have discovered that while Queens may not be Manhattan, they still must battle the same deeply held sentiment among many Irish-American Catholics that homosexuality and St. Patrick do not mix. The first posters for the parade, which will start at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside and run to 61st Street in Woodside, were hung only late last week because of fears that they would be ripped down.

''When we moved to Queens, we decided to build the kind of parade we were hoping for in Manhattan, but it has been quite the challenge,'' said Brendan Fay, 42, who is part of the parade's organizing committee and a founder of the Lavender and Green Alliance, an Irish-American gay group that will march in the parade. ''It seems like every half-hour something happens with this parade as the opposition really comes out.''

Mr. Fay and other members of the organizing committee, most of whom are not gay, have gone to great lengths to play down the event's gay and lesbian ties.

The theme is ''Cherishing All of the Children of the Nation Equally,'' a phrase taken from the Proclamation of the Irish Republic in 1916. The lineup is expected to include scores of groups not associated with homosexual causes, including labor unions, Native Americans and postal workers. Also to be featured prominently will be a band from Ireland, De Jimbe, whose participation is being subsidized by the Irish government.

''It is a diverse parade, not a gay parade, and there is a big difference,'' said Barbara Ann Heffernan Mohr, 67, a former nun and member of the organizing committee. ''The naysayers have the right to their feelings, but hate is not going to win the day.''

Yet it is all but certain that the parade will be missing what most Irish-Americans, including both Mrs. Mohr and Mr. Fay, see as an essential element of a St. Patrick's parade: the local representatives of the Catholic church. None of the parishes or Catholic schools in Queens have agreed to participate. A branch of Catholic Charities in Woodside had offered to serve tea and open its restrooms to the marchers, but the organization withdrew the offer last week. Harriet Herman, the program manager for the charity in Woodside, said that she had been unaware of a scheduling conflict when she extended the offer.

Mr. Fay said he did not believe the explanation and blamed pressure -- spoken or unspoken -- from the diocese.

''I was appalled when they changed their minds,'' said Mr. Fay, who lost his job at a Catholic high school in Queens after marching with a gay group in the 1991 parade in Manhattan. ''People expect Catholics to participate in a St. Patrick's parade.''

While several individuals and clubs associated with parishes have expressed an interest in the parade, Mr. Fay said, the only parish that has formally committed to sending a delegation is St. Paul the Apostle Church on Manhattan's West Side, which has a history of ministering to gays and lesbians. Because of the poor response by Catholic groups, plans to hold an Irish fair after the parade have been dropped.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Brooklyn, which includes the parishes in Queens, said the diocese had not become involved in the debate.

''The decision of a parish or school to take part in a parade is made at the local level, and the diocese supports any decision a parish or school makes,'' said the spokesman, Frank De Rosa.

The decision by most Catholic institutions to stay away has been supported by some prominent Irish-Americans.

Two Republican Party leaders in Woodside recently issued a stinging condemnation of the event, labeling it an ''extremist gay and lesbian exhibition hopelessly and ignobly disguised as a celebration of Irish culture.'' The two Republican officials, Patrick Hurley and Ed Coyne, appealed to groups marching in the parade to consider ''how hurtful'' their participation would be to Irish-Americans in the area.

''We have a lot of young Irish-American families here in Woodside and Sunnyside, and the social agenda that this group is trying to promote obviously is at odds with the accepted family values,'' said Mr. Hurley, president of the Regular Republican Club in Woodside. ''If they want to exhibit or express their sexual identity, why not call themselves the Irish-American Gay and Lesbian Parade, or the Irish-American Hard-line Left Parade? Because that is what they are.''

Jim Browne, the president of the County Cork Benevolent and Protective Association of New York, said many that Irish-Americans were offended that the parade would go through Sunnyside and Woodside, two working-class neighborhoods long associated with Irish immigration to New York, leaving the impression that the residents there have endorsed it. Mr. Browne said that most support for the parade was from outsiders like Mr. Fay and Mrs. Mohr, who live in Astoria and Jamaica respectively, as well as from people who are not Irish-American or not Catholic.

''The people involved are using this area as a vehicle to advertise their own agenda,'' said Mr. Browne, a retired city police officer who lives in Woodside. ''We don't need this kind of publicity. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. This should be a religious celebration.''

Mr. Fay said he would still invite more Catholic and Irish-American groups to join the parade. Several Irish-American merchants in the Woodside area have made sizable donations to help cover its cost, estimated at $10,000. But the emotional debate has put other would-be participants in a difficult predicament.

Niall O'Leary, who runs a school of Irish dance in Manhattan and Queens, had hoped that many of his 100 students would perform in the parade. But Mr. O'Leary said some parents of his younger dancers had expressed reservations because the parade has become known in much of the Irish-American community as ''the gay parade.'' At last count, according to the parade organizers, 18 of Mr. O'Leary's dancers signed up to participate.

''It is a very contentious parade, but our participation in any event in no way indicates support for any cause other than dancing,'' Mr. O'Leary said. ''I don't think it is a gay parade, otherwise I wouldn't be involved. But at the same time, it doesn't seem right that gays should not be allowed in a St. Patrick's Day parade.''

One group that said it was eager to participate in the Queens parade is the Silver Dolphins Drill Team at the United States Naval Submarine School in Groton, Conn., which has already committed to marching in the Fifth Avenue parade two weeks from now. The drill team's staff adviser, James B. Gallagher, said the only problem was that the organizing committee in Queens had said it was not keen on having guns displayed in the parade. If that issue can be resolved, Mr. Gallagher said, the team will join both celebrations.

''The issue of homosexuality has no relevance whatsoever,'' Mr. Gallagher said. ''The Navy's policy on homosexuality is don't ask, don't tell and don't pursue, so we don't.''

Queens St. Pat's Parade To Roll Despite Rumblings

Irish Echo

February 21-27, 2001

By Ray O'Hanlon

The Sunnyside-Woodside St. Patrick's Parade is ready to roll on Sunday, March 4, according to organizers.

And it will do so with Irish government backing and despite objections from the local Republican Party organization.

In addition, parade organizers are hopeful that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will put in an appearance, as she did last year in the inaugural staging of a parade that promotes itself as an event open to all, including Irish gay groups such as ILGO.

This year's parade, which will step off at 1 p.m., will be lead by De Jimbe, an Irish-based ensemble that combines traditional Irish music with African drumming.

The group is being aided in its transAtlantic trip by the Irish government, specifically the Department of Foreign Affairs Cultural Relations Committee.

"We are thrilled that with the support of the Irish government De Jimbe will bring their energy and dynamism to the streets of New York. Their support reflects contemporary Ireland, where inclusive St. Patrick's parades are the norm," parade chairman Brendan Fay said in a statement.

However, not everyone in the heavily Irish neighborhood that the parade calls its home base is feeling thrilled as the days roll by to March 4.

In a strongly worded statement, the Woodside branch of the Republican Party has expressed its "strong disapproval" over what it sees as "another extreme left-wing demonstration."

The parade, according to the statement, will be "a politically partisan, anti-Republican, anti-NYPD, anti-law and order, anti-family values, counterculture, extremist gay and lesbian exhibition, hopelessly and ignobly disguised as a celebration of Irish culture, and irreverently masking itself behind the tenets of Irish independence."

The statement was signed by Ed Coyne, the GOP district leader, and Patrick Hurley, president of Woodside's Regular Republican Club.

The statement accused the parade organizers of attempting to hijack the name of the local Irish community.

Fay, in response, said that the Republicans were welcome to march in the parade as long as they respected all the other groups.

"They are welcome to serve hot chocolate or push wheelchairs, walk with the U.S. Navy or New York Fire Department or a Catholic parish," Fay said.

The expected navy group, Fay explained, was the U.S. Navy's Submarine School Silver Dolphin Drill Team.

Fay said that this year's parade was shaping up to be bigger than last year's and that many politicians, business, labor and local volunteer groups had indicated their intention to march.

He was not sure at presstime as to whether Sen. Clinton would be among the marchers.

"Her office can't as yet confirm her attendance," he said.

The parade will start at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside. Registration or other details are available at (718)670-7039 or on the parade's website: www.stpatsforall.com.

Band Steal A March On St. Patrick's Day Parade

Image Ireland Online Community

March, 2001

By Padraic Lavin & De Jimbe

One group that wont be sitting at home with their feet in their mouths this St Patrick's Day is De Jimbe from Dublin. They already did their parading in New York, no less, on March 4th in the city where the St Patrick's Day Parade was invented.

Following an invitation from Brendan Fay of Stpatsforall.com, the organisers of the Queens St Patrick's Day Parade in New York, the band managed to gather enough support from the Arts Council and The Cultural Relations Committee of the Department of Foreign Affairs to fly over to New York and represent the 'old country' in a very unique parade.

The St Patrick's Day Parade in Queens was initiated last year as an alternative to the Ancient order Of Hibernian's parade on fifth Avenue which is constantly mired in controversy on account of its refusal to allow gay Irish people march under a gay banner as they do in Dublin. Rather than imitate the Fifth Avenue parade, with line after line of marching policemen, fire brigades and marching bands, the Queens parade has its own angle; 'Cherishing all the children of the nation equally'. The organisers also invite all the other races in the neighbourhood to celebrate with them with floats, music, puppets, stilt walkers etc.

De Jimbe were the highlight of this year's parade not merely because of their exciting stage show, performed from the back of a truck, but because they represented support from the 'old country' for a new inclusive image of 'Irishness'. De jimbe played their blend of African and Irish music to New Yorkers of every colour creed and persuasion.

While the band participated in the parade and performed for a local school for free, the trip drew a lot of attention to the group and they appeared on network news on several occasions as well as being mentioned twice in the New York Times and in several local, Irish and gay newspapers. They were also played on Radio Free Eire and broadcast live on the web twice. The band will also feature on Manhattan Network's Patrick's Day special "Who's Irish Anyway" and in April on RTE's new multi cultural tv magazine show 'Mono'.

When asked how he felt about being in a gay parade, Brian Fleming, the group leader said " Well, I don't think you can really call this a gay parade as only about 5% of it was gay but we'd have no problem if it was, we did a gay pride parade in Dublin before and it was great craic. In fact we did try and camp it up a bit by wearing PVC pants and special edition pink De jimbe T shirts. I threw a wiggle and a wink at one of the protesters, shame there wasn't more of them. I don't know what the AOH's problem is; real men aren't afraid of gays and girls love it when you're a bit ambiguous"

While the Ancient Order of Hibernians will, by virtue of historical inertia, host the traditional show of force on 5th Avenue where the Irish demonstrate that they have the support of the police, fire departments, army, navy etc., the 'new' Irish in New York will go on about their daily business having completed their celebrations long before the 5th Ave parade of guns uniforms and protesters. Gay Irish people have no place in a show of force and pro choice advocates have no business being grand Marshall in a Catholic parade, hence the protests.

Meanwhile, De jimbe will headline at an anti racism gig in Vicar St on 22nd of March, featuring 8 of Irelands' finest traditional and world music acts before doing one of their now legendary performances in the Cobblestones, Smithfield on Sat 24th March… some pink T shirts may be available on the night.

De Jimbe are a 6- 7 piece group basing their music around traditional Irish music and the traditional drumming cultures of other countries around the Atlantic. They play traditional rhythms from the Caribbean and West Africa using djembes, congas, djoun djouns, talking drum, drum set etc. and mix these rhythms with original and traditional Irish melodies and traditional Irish instruments. The fusion and tension between the pulsating, hypnotic rhythms and the intricate airs is what gives De jimbe their original, immediate and exciting sound.

The group was formed by Brian Fleming in 1995, led the St Patrick's Day Parade that year with Macnas in an award winning entry, went on to play the Late Late Show and Kenny Live the same year. The group went on to play all over Ireland and also the Iner Celtic Festival, Quimper, France, the Roots Festival, Gambia and the Percuba festival, Havana Cuba. They have collaborated in the past with Irish musicians such as Emer Mayock (Afro Celts), Gerry O Connor, Kila, Paul Kelly, Anuna and Iarla O Lionard (Afro Celts). They have also played at Aras An Uachtarain, for the president of Ireland, on a number of occasions.

In 1999 the group formed the core band for the ESB Millennium Drum Carnival and played at major festivals all over Ireland with the Millennium Drum, the largest drum in the world, which Brian had invented specially for the show (Guinness Book Of Records, p12). They led the St Patrick's parade again in Dublin that year with the drum in another award winning entry. The band travelled to Hanover in 2000 to represent Ireland in the week of the Drums at Expo, the world fair. This year they have been invited to play at the World Drum Festival in Korea and at the International Year of the Volunteer in Dakar, Senegal will make their American debut at the Queens parade in New York on March 4th. They are also currently recording their debut CD.

Having served their apprenticeship learning about the different traditions, the band are taking more risks these days, taking the music to new heights. Watch out for some new faces and lots of new music!

The parade is 'The St Patrick's parade and Irish Fair' and takes as its theme the words of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic; "Cherishing All the Children of the Nation Equally". The parade takes place on the 4th of March and is organised by www.stpatsforall.com.

Background
The fifth Avenue parade in New York City on St Patrick's Day has long been a source of controversy as the Ancient Order of Hibernians refuse to allow any gay representation. There tends to be protests and politicians refusing to march in it etc. as a result.
Last year a Drogheda man, called Brendan Fay, living in New York, decided to do something positive for the gay and other communities that feel marginalised by what tends to be quite a white dominated militaristic celebration of Irishness in a very diverse city.

He invited all the other communities that share the neighbourhood in Woodside/ Sunnyside, Queens with the Irish to join a parade that was open to all. The results were quite amazing. Not only did most of the groups want to celebrate with their neighbours, most of them had their own particular reason to celebrate with the Irish and had never been invited to do so before. Last year's parade not only made every network tv station in America, it made history as the first Irish St Patrick's parade that was open to all.

A History Lesson
Brendan is quite a keen historian but even he learned a thing or two about Irish history by calling around his neighbourhood. In the Chilean restaurant, he was invited into the back room where a picture of an Irishman, O Higgins hung on the wall, the proud liberator of their country. People of African origin, from the Caribbean, had shared the experience of slavery there with the Irish, the Choctaw native Americans had sent relief to the Irish during the famine, even the leader of the Korean traditional drumming band had been educated in Korea by Irish Christian Brothers and was touched to be asked to be part of an Irish event.

The Parade Participants
As well as pipe bands and theatre groups, the parade was endorsed by all the unions and by many of the most prominent politicians in New York, including one Hillary Rodham Clinton who participated in the parade herself and will do again this year as Senator for New York. In fact one of the only groups not to accept their invitation to participate was the Ancient Order Of Hibernians. The only type of groups excluded were ones that carry guns. Interestingly, there were some protesters with signs saying 'sodomites!' and the like. For once the shoe was on the other foot.

De jimbe and the parade
Our participation in the parade is particularly significant in that we are actually travelling over from the 'old country' to endorse the parade and, moreover it is the Irish government, through the Arts Council and the Department of Foreign Affairs who is actually making it possible. Add to this that we are a mixed race group mixing Irish and African music who are representing Ireland and you have quite a powerful positive statement of the new broader meaning of 'Irishness'. We were also accompanied by a cameraman from RTE for a multi-cultural arts magazine programme.