Some Bostonians are taking to local media requesting that citizens boycott the parade. Post-DADT fight hits Boston parade

BOSTON — Boston is known for having one of the most colorful, most raucous St. Patrick’s Day parades in the world, but this year the annual event has become an unlikely battleground for a new twist on the old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” culture feud, as negotiations to include an LGBT veterans group broke down.

LGBT Veterans for Equality, an affiliate of the rights group MassEquality, had petitioned parade organizers South Boston Allied War Veterans Council for a permit to march in this year’s parade but were denied. Boston’s new mayor, Marty Walsh, attempted to mediate the dispute on behalf of MassEquality, and in an unprecedented decision AWVC had reversed course and invited up to 20 veterans identified as LGBT to march in the parade, as long as certain conditions were met.


One condition was that the marchers included no signage, a condition LGBT marchers did not want to follow. AWVC ruled that any display of sexual orientation was a violation of the parade’s long-standing code of conduct. “It is our intention to keep this an Irish Celebration,” organizers wrote on their website and called the group’s push for signage a ploy to enter the parade under false pretenses.

The invitation was rescinded, and as of Saturday no LGBT groups were expected to participate in the parade.

MassEquality Executive Director Kara Coredini responded in a statement : “We were under the impression that negotiations were positive and ongoing, and we were surprised by the abrupt and hostile tone of the Parade organizers’ rejection.”

Fifteen members of LGBT Veterans for Equality, in an open letter to parade organizers Wednesday, wrote “we fought too long and too hard to be able to serve our country openly to retreat back into the closet in order to march in a parade.”

The tension between LGBT groups and socially conservative parade organizers is not confined to Massachusetts. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that parade organizers there privately invited groups to march, as opposed to using an open application process. The paper reported that this was an effort by organizers there to avoid rejecting a gay-rights group rejected the previous year. Last year, other gay-rights groups were reportedly denied participation in St. Patrick’s Day parades in big city such as Chicago, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he’ll skip participating in his city’s parade this year over exclusion of LGBT-affiliated groups.

But, here in Boston, the persistence of openly gay veterans has created a paradox for a parade billed as veteran friendly with a banner “Help our Veterans make the 2014 Saint Patricks Day Parade the best ever!” featured prominently on the organizers’ website. In a statement, AWVC said their background checks on the LGBT Veterans for Equality did not provide evidence that the group was a recognized veterans organization.

Some Bostonians are taking to local media requesting that citizens boycott the parade. The Archdiocese of Boston has tried to distance itself from the conflict and issued no statement on the matter. While praising the negotiation efforts of Mayor Walsh, Steve Kerrigan, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, labeled the parade as an “openly discriminatory event.” Kerrigan and Walsh will not march in the parade.

And, according to AP reports Friday, Boston Brewing Co., brewer of Samuel Adams beer, withdrew its sponsorship of the parade following pressure from local bars and the AWVC’s decision to exclude gay groups from the parade.