Twenty-three years later, orthodox Boston Irish Catholics will no longer have the prominent public voice on St. Patrick's Day. They've been elbowed out by secular celebrants of disordered sexuality .

In 1995, a remarkable 9-0 ruling was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court. A Catholic veterans' group, organizers of the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in South Boston, were vindicated in their refusal to allow a homosexual activist group to march in their parade. The Court confirmed that the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council was protected by the First Amendment and could reject a group if it "impart[ed] a message that the [parade] organizers do not wish to convey."

South Boston has fallen. LGBTQ radicals have just seized complete control of the St. Patrick's Day Parade, with the director of a front group, OUTVETS, put in charge of the event.

The shocking evolution of the parade from a celebration of Irish Catholic heritage to an overtly LGBTQ event should be a warning to those who advocate "inclusion" within their institutions. The infusion of LGBTQ sexuality will inevitably upend tried and true traditions and moral standards. We see this happening most clearly in our schools and churches.

Profile of an LGBTQ Takeover

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts and the pro-family group MassResistance have chronicled the sad demise of the St. Patrick's Day event (while attempting to save it). The League's executive director, C.J. Doyle, explained in a recent press release:

In 2014, Mayor Walsh – a former union boss – first tried to force inclusion of the "LGBTQ rights" group MassEquality. The Catholic Action League and MassResistance helped hold off this first assault. The would-be invaders regrouped.

The mayor secured a foothold in 2015. That year, Boston Pride marchers were allowed in the parade. Its president said, "We are wicked proud of ... finally breaking that wall. It's a huge change, especially 20 years later, to have that understanding and make sure people feel welcome in the parade." The Boston Pride organization had no discernable connection to the parade's Boston Irish Catholic theme, but only to LGBTQ activism. A wall certainly was broken.

Another LGBTQ group, OUTVETS, marched in the 2015 parade, wearing rainbow patches and carrying a rainbow banner reading, Pride – Honor – Sacrifice. MassResistance reported, "By all accounts, OUTVETS is a contrived group of Boston city employees created in late 2014 by Mayor Marty Walsh specifically to be a homosexual 'veterans' presence in the St. Patrick's Day Parade."

St. Patrick was not pleased. Nor were the local Knights of Columbus, who refused to march in 2015 because the event had "become politicized and divisive."

The two LGBT groups marched again in 2016. The Catholic Action League and MassResistance amassed over 6,000 signatures demanding that "organizers remove the name of 'St. Patrick' from the parade because the inclusion of anti-Catholic homosexual groups made it impossible to honor a Catholic saint."

The rainbow symbols proclaiming LGBTQ identifications of the two groups clearly violated the organizers' rules. But their objection was weakly voiced.

The final capitulation came in 2017. Mayor Walsh was determined to wipe out any glimmer of resistance to sexual radicals' participation. The Veterans Council's objection to LGBT symbols had to be overcome. The mayor continued to strong-arm the parade organization. Powerful politicians and corporate sponsors threatened to withhold support.

Worse, Antifa-style riots were being planned to disrupt the 2017 parade if LGBTQ groups were not given full participation. No mainstream outlet reported on those threats of violence.

A former Veterans Council commander told MassResistance that the Boston police commissioner's office had warned parade organizer Tim Duross:

[B]usloads of LGBT activists from other states were planning to come to Boston to protest the parade and disrupt it. Furthermore, there would likely be violence and even possible deaths. The police strongly implied that they could not contain such violence – and that Duross would be responsible if it happened – unless he allowed the homosexual group to march.

This was confirmed by the 2017 council commander. And parade organizer Duross said:

[T]he threats had been discovered through various social media, and that he had met with the Police Commissioner who said that the threats were real, that busses of activists would be coming to converge on the parade – similar to other recent organized riots around the country – and this needed to be taken seriously. There seemed to be the implication that the police would not be able to contain it. "If anybody got hurt because of this, I wouldn't be able to live with myself," Duross told MassResistance. He said that he felt he had no choice but to let the homosexual group in. Duross said that he had also been personally targeted with harassment and threats.

Sadly, the Boston Archdiocese never stepped in to corral the errant nominal Catholics (such as the Boston mayor). So leftist strong-arm tactics and threats of violence won once again.

C.J. Doyle (Catholic Action League) laments:

Saint Patrick's Day was instituted to commemorate the Apostle who brought the Catholic Faith to Ireland. It is impossible to honor Saint Patrick while showcasing those who not only repudiate the moral code of Saint Patrick's religion, but who castigate that code as bigotry, prejudice, hatred and homophobia. Everything which OUTVETS represents is radically discordant with the life and mission of Saint Patrick, who rescued an entire nation from paganism and its libertine moral practices. OUTVETS cares nothing for the traditional culture and heritage of once Catholic Ireland. For them, this event is an opportunity to impose their anti-Catholic ideology on an historically Catholic celebration. This also speaks to the totalitarian instincts of homosexual activists, who must, evidently, not only defeat the victims of their aggression, but then dispossess them of their organizations, and prevent them from ever opposing them again.

It's not enough that LGBTQ groups overrun Boston during the month of June with their "pride" parades and orgies. Now they control another big parade in March.

The demise of Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade is just one example of how allowing LGBTQ individuals to openly serve in the U.S. military has opened doors for their activist interference in other social realms. If LGBTQ participation in the military is recognized as legitimate, who can refuse to recognize their inclusion in other settings?

LGBTQ groups parading their identities is not just about advocating sexual freedom or inclusion. It's about politics (wielding power). It's about making everyone else bow to LGBTQ feelings and demands. And it's about crushing orthodox religion.

Why are conservatives institutions (hello, Catholic Church) not fighting back?

Amy Contrada is with MassResistance and author of Mitt Romney's Deception. She has degrees from Tufts and Brown plus a diploma in violin-making. See AmyContrada.com for some of her writing.