month after organizers of New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade made the historic announcement that it would let an LGBT group march openly, activists are ramping up demands that the organization withdraw from the event because, they claim, the procession still excludes Irish gays.
Parade organizers confirmed to Newsweek in September that OUT@NBCUniversal, the company's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Straight Ally Employee Alliance, will be the first LGBT group to participate in the parade. Out@NBCUniversal's participation reversed a long-standing ban on LGBT organizations marching under their banner.
Billed by organizers as "our country's oldest and proudest Irish tradition," the parade has been rife with controversy in recent years, largely due to its policies toward LGBT persons. This year, Bill de Blasio became the first New York City mayor in more than two decades to boycott the parade, because of its LGBT policy at the time. The City Council and many Irish politicians followed suit. Even Irish beer icon Guinness opted out of the procession because of the parade's stance then.
Out@NBCUniversal's participation has yet to quell controversy, however.
In a new letter to de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito obtained by Newsweek, activists from groups such as Irish Queers charge that "instead of that pressure leading to Irish LGBTQ groups taking their rightful place in the community's parade, OUT@NBCUniversal has jumped into the space it created. OUT@NBCUniversal is the gay employee/marketing group of the parade's sponsor. The Irish LGBTQ community is still excluded from the parade. The 'lifting of the ban' is a sham."
The letter, sent to de Blasio and Mark-Viverito late last week, reiterates activists' recent demands that OUT@NBCUniversal "withdraw from the parade until Irish LGBTQ groups are part of the parade." The activists also want de Blasio and Mark-Viverito to boycott the 2015 event.
Debate over Out@NBCUniversal's participation has raged since September 3. Leaders of the Irish LGBT community have told Newsweek they are dismayed that a corporate organization was chosen rather than a grassroots group. Activists also worry that the group doesn't adequately represent Irish LGBTQs. And when Irish Queers applied to march in the parade, organizers denied their request, saying the procession was full. Sources tell Newsweek that two other Irish LGBT groups' applications were also denied.
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De Blasio did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment. The mayor recently said, however, that he hasn't committed to the 2015 parade. A spokesman for Mark-Viverito said in an e-mail that "no decision has been made on marching." Neither NBCUniversal nor the parade's spokesman responded to requests for comment.
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