St Patrick's day parade

Ponster

Yeah I'll admit it, I only started this thread to say that I'll be marching/walking in this years parade in Manhattan with the Tipperary Association.

I know that the country goes a little crazy for the green at this time of the year but do other cities have a parade ?

MadsL

Any gay groups permitted to march yet?

Ponster

MadsL wrote: »

Any gay groups permitted to march yet?

Yes but they're not permitted to display I guess what you'd call 'gay-pride' type signs and banners as the focus is supposed to be about Irish/Ireland and not being Irish and something else.

I doubt that the ruling will last for very much longer though. Maybe I'll get to wear a GAA county top then

MadsL

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/03/leading_nyc_mayoral_contender.html

Christine Quinn is also a lesbian and proud of it. And that's why the City Council speaker won't be marching in Saturday's St. Patrick's Day Parade.

"I've marched in Dublin (in its St. Patrick's Day parade) with visibly identifiable stickers and buttons that made clear we were both Irish and LGBT," she said this week, using an acronym for lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual. "If you can do that in Dublin, in God's name, why can't you do it on Fifth Avenue?"

Aprilmay

We had ours in Charlotte NC today, we walked with the Irish society today the parade was extended this year. 80k people showed up last year and more was expected today, No bad for a city of its size.

barney4001

how it started

http://forgedinulster.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/ulster-scots-held-first-st-patricks-day.html

Mr. K

I was at the NYC and Pearl River parades during the weekend, the former was tough going after it started snowing. There was a good atmosphere in the city, it's nice to see people so enthusiastic. There was a certain novelty to it since I haven't gone to a parade in Ireland in about fifteen years!

rockonollie

It got a bit ridiculous in cincinnati.....the group GLSEN (Gay, lesbian and straight education network) were banned from the parade because their banner included the words gay and lesbian........even though their sign only had the accronym.

listermint

rockonollie wrote: »

It got a bit ridiculous in cincinnati.....the group GLSEN (Gay, lesbian and straight education network) were banned from the parade because their banner included the words gay and lesbian........even though their sign only had the accronym.

I think its silly though for these groups to effectively high jack these parades though. I mean you dont see other groups jumping aboard the St Patricks day parade. The Jewish Football Society or Pavee Point Travellers Group or Muslim Brotherhood or the society of chosen minority.

Gay and Lesbian people are the same as everyone else but whats the point in hijacking a parade that has nothing to do with that ? They already have their own parade ?

I dont get it.

rockonollie

listermint wrote: »

I think its silly though for these groups to effectively high jack these parades though. I mean you dont see other groups jumping aboard the St Patricks day parade. The Jewish Football Society or Pavee Point Travellers Group or Muslim Brotherhood or the society of chosen minority.

Gay and Lesbian people are the same as everyone else but whats the point in hijacking a parade that has nothing to do with that ? They already have their own parade ?

I dont get it.

I agree that they have no place in the parade.....but when the organizers allow the local farmers market, and city council members, and sports teams, and youth groups and other adult groups all of which have nothing to do with the irish community......then they shouldn't be turning this one group away.

listermint

rockonollie wrote: »

I agree that they have no place in the parade.....but when the organizers allow the local farmers market, and city council members, and sports teams, and youth groups and other adult groups all of which have nothing to do with the irish community......then they shouldn't be turning this one group away.

I suppose in that case id agree.

rockonollie

Interesting follow up on my original post......today, cincinnati city council proposed an new rule that prohibits any groups from discriminating against any group, if their parade receives subsidized services from the city.

The St. Patrick's day parade doesn't receive any actual funding from the city of cincinnati, but they only pay 10% of the standard charge for event specific police duty.

Gandhi

IIRC the original argument from the GLBT groups was that a lot of gay Irish had moved to the US to escape homophobia, making them a distinct category of the diaspora. Hence they justified a parade float. Friends of mine in the restaurant industry tell me there are a huge number of gay Irish chefs in NYC, which would probably be part of this.

Half the floats in the parades these days are basically advertising trucks from some restaurant chain or car dealership with a few shamrocks stuck on, possibly pulling a trailer of Irish dancers or dudes dresses as leprechauns. There really is not much of an argument for keeping GLBT groups out, other than the parades are usually run by very conservative groups like the AOH.

Misticles

I was at the NY parade and it wasn't what I thought it would be like .. SOOO many bands.

How to spot Irish people .... they're the ones not wearing green paraphanalia haha