Stay Away on St. Paddy's Day

On Monday, March 17, scores of Massachusetts residents will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with shamrocks, soda bread, and perhaps a Guinness or two. In the traditionally Irish neighborhood of South Boston, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council will put on its annual St. Patrick’s Day parade, which has become a community tradition. Boston’s new mayor, Marty Walsh, will be staying away, protesting the fact that gay rights groups such as MassEquality are banned from marching. We commend Mayor Walsh for his principled stand on the issue, and we urge the parade’s organizers to change their policy and embrace all members of Boston’s community.

At the center of the controversy is the SBAWVC’s history of banning openly gay groups from marching. The veterans’ organization cancelled the parade in 1994 rather than allowing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community members to March. In 1995, the organizers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the group’s right to decide who can march. Since then, the parade has discriminated against gay Americans. This year, it seemed as if the city would see at least some progress—Walsh brokered a deal by which gay groups would have been able to march so long as they did not identify themselves as gay during the parade. Even this lackluster deal fell through, and the SBAWVC has officially rescinded its invitation for gay groups to march.

We do not question the parade organizers’ legal right to preclude gay groups from marching—but in this case, their choice to exercise that right is misguided. The parade has become a symbol of South Boston and the city as a whole, and every member of the community should be included in that tradition. Even the erstwhile deal allowing gay groups to march without identifying themselves would not have been ideal—no individual should be barred from self-expression while participating in community events. We look toward the day when members of the LGBTQ community can live without stigma, and the organizers’ implication that gay identity is incompatible with pride in Irish heritage is insidious.

Until Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade rids itself of discriminatory policies, we hope that lovers of equality will celebrate in other ways. Mayor Walsh, admirable as his deal-brokering efforts may have been, is right to skip the parade, as was Mayor Menino throughout his tenure. South Boston congressman Stephen Lynch, who has marched in the parade since he was four years old, is contemplating skipping this year, and we hope he follows through. The country is inching—perhaps even leaping—toward greater acceptance of LGBTQ Americans, and Boston would be well-served by a parade reflecting this progress.