St. Patrick's Day parade in New York | AP Photo Matteo becomes latest Republican to boycott Staten Island St. Patrick's Day parade

The Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day parade is becoming an increasingly lonely affair.

City Council Member Steven Matteo, the Council’s Republican minority leader, announced Monday he would not march in Sunday’s parade, joining a host of other civic leaders who have boycotted the parade over organizers’ refusal to allow LGBT groups to participate.


“I marched last year with the hope that the parade organizers would take the overwhelming feedback for inclusion that they received from across the borough into consideration for this year’s parade. Obviously, they did not,” Matteo said in a statement Monday. “I am hopeful that next year we [will] all be able to participate in a more inclusive event.”

Four years after New York’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day parade along Manhattan’s Fifth Ave. dropped its longstanding ban and allowed gay groups to march under their own banners, the Staten Island parade is still refusing to change its policy.

Organizers denied a permit to the Pride Center of Staten Island, which has tried for years to get into the parade.

Matteo joins Staten Island Borough President Jimmy Oddo, a Republican, who boycotted the parade for the first time last year.

“We had an opportunity to have a really powerful moment of unity, which I think would be even more profound given the amount of divisiveness all around us,” Oddo told POLITICO. “I’m not happy with the status quo. If you’re not happy with the status quo, you’ve got to do something about it.”

The parade, which used to draw mayors and U.S. senators, is the last St. Patrick’s Day march in the city to turn away LGBT groups.

“This is not a proud moment for the organization or for Staten Island,” Oddo said. “It buttresses some unfortunate stereotypes ... For lots of reasons, we need to shed this ignorance.”

But the parade has refused to budge, said Carol Bullock, executive director of the Pride Center.

“We just want to march like any other organization and celebrate our Irish heritage,” she said. “It’s discrimination, and it unfortunately sends a bad message not only about Staten Island, but the thing that really gives me a kick in the gut [is] the message it sends to perhaps a youth, somebody who’s thinking about coming out and celebrating who they are, and knowing this is the sort of thing they’ll face.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. Max Rose, and several other elected officials are also skipping the festivities.

Presidential candidate and former Mayor Mike Bloomberg used to frequent both the Staten Island parade and the Manhattan parade, despite former and current prohibitions on LGBT groups, though he argued the "parades should be open to everyone."

Staten Island organizer Larry Cummings of the Ancient Order of Hibernians could not be reached for comment Monday.

“Here’s the deal, it’s a non-sexual identification parade and that’s that, no, they are not marching,” he recently told the Staten Island Advance. “Don’t try to keep asking a million friggin’ questions, OK?”

That statement prompted the chairman of Staten Island’s Republican party, Brendan Lantry, to pen a condemnation of the parade’s policy. He said he is still undecided on whether to march.

Lantry said he tried to give the organization the benefit of the doubt until reading Cummings’ comments.

“I thought for a while there might have been some logical basis,” he said. “It became apparent that there really isn’t one and that this is just about excluding a group of people because they’re gay, and that’s just not acceptable.”

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis who is running for Congress against Rose, said she also opposes the parade’s policy but does plan to march.

“I march every year. The St. Patrick’s Day parade is a tradition. I go to celebrate Irish heritage and culture,” Malliotakis said. “I hope they’ll reconsider and give them a permit to march.”

City Council Member Joe Borelli said he isn’t making a point of boycotting the parade, but isn’t sure if he’ll show up.

“It depends on the weather,” he said, adding he believes the Pride Center should be allowed to march.