Help Wanted: Grand Marshal of NYC Saint Patrick's Day 2011
Posted on Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 12:58 AM
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Help Wanted
Position: Grand Marshal of New York City’s Saint Patrick’s Day parade.
Requirements: Must be comfortable upholding two decades of unbroken discrimination.
Full Disclosure: If selected, you will not be our first choice.
Well I know the New York City job market is tight but, I mean to say, who on earth would volunteer for a gig like that?
Why, come on down Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan!
Why, come on down Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan!
Your Grace, as you’re strapping on your tricolor sash next March may I ask you to remember this: you may be the last man in Manhattan still willing to fit the job description.
We live in an era of rapid social change. Thank goodness for Archbishop Dolan and the Saint Patrick’s Day Committee who are doing everything in their power to stop it.
In hindsight, though, it’s quite hard to believe that the New York Parade Committee actually contemplated inviting their first choice (sorry, Your Grace) the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, to be the Grand Marshall of its 250 anniversary in 2011.
Why? Because Mary McAleese has spent her entire adult life standing up to discrimination and petty intolerance wherever she found it – and growing up in Belfast in the 1960’s she found it almost everywhere.
This is a woman who knows discrimination when she sees it - and she sees it all over Fifth Avenue on March 17.
It tells you something about the splendid isolation the parade selection committee live in (they're mostly ensconced in that bastion of ethnic and social diversity called Westchester, which in 2000 was 71.35% white) that they contemplated asking her in the first place.
It must come as a terrific surprise to them how few people share their views these days. And if President McAleese isn't anti-gay enough for them, wait till they hear who's the favorite to succeed her next year (it's Senator David Norris, the noted James Joyce scholar, also notable for being a successful gay rights activist).
Ironically, in sending a despised minority to purdah, the New York City Saint Patrick's Day parade committee are now discovering what it feels like to be a ridiculed minority under siege themselves.
It must come as a terrific surprise to them how few people share their views these days. And if President McAleese isn't anti-gay enough for them, wait till they hear who's the favorite to succeed her next year (it's Senator David Norris, the noted James Joyce scholar, also notable for being a successful gay rights activist).
Ironically, in sending a despised minority to purdah, the New York City Saint Patrick's Day parade committee are now discovering what it feels like to be a ridiculed minority under siege themselves.
How's that for a little Irish poetry?
24 Comments
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hancock | Oct 07, 2010, 12:40 AM EDT
Ned Beaty went back to Atlanta with a frown.
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maloney | Oct 06, 2010, 05:09 PM EDT
Hancock...If you should ever visit my Smokey Mountains, stay on the path, or you very well may have your own deliverance enlightenment. The locals like to send em back to the big city with a smile on their faces. The stereotype is correct, now cue the music.
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hancock | Oct 06, 2010, 01:40 AM EDT
Pansies everywhere Maloney, cue the banjo music.
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maloney | Oct 05, 2010, 07:46 PM EDT
Only in your dreams hancock. I do understand that Cahir is gay but 6 of his last 8 articles were on the subject. Manhattan diary is his blog, not manhattan gay diary. Cahir does good stuff when not on the subject. And I did mean pansy ass NY for many reasons, not just gay.
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hancock | Oct 05, 2010, 02:58 AM EDT
Kick your hillbilly ass maloney.
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maloney | Oct 02, 2010, 06:11 PM EDT
hollowbutt finds another gay article & she's all over it. You can speak for the Gay Irish American community, hollowbutt, but you know nothing about the Irish American community other than pansy ass NY. Stange how IC has so many gay articles, say what.
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hollabackgurl | Sep 28, 2010, 04:25 PM EDT
The elderly conservative anti-gay zealots on the parade committee don't even live in this century, so they don't understand the harm they're doing to themselves and the wider Irish American community (who don't share their narrow views). It such a shame they're holding the city to ransom year after year.
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Woodkern | Sep 28, 2010, 03:14 PM EDT
Isn't it obvious? Given the demographics of the parade, none other than the Culture Warrior from Levittown, Bill O'Reilly would do!
Indeed, he would be well-received beyond the "Irish"-American community. While it would be Saint Patrick's for some, it would be like Christmas for Keith Olbermann and Chanukah for John Stewart. SNL can just throw a block party.
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hollabackgurl | Sep 28, 2010, 02:41 PM EDT
If heterosexuals wear wedding bands they're marching as heterosexuals.
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PolinDeB | Sep 27, 2010, 08:27 PM EDT
@maryemoore Can you not call it a St Patrick's day parade then? Since this links it to a celebration of Ireland which is my country and we like gay people... in fact 63 percent of us think they should get married ;) Perhaps we should trademark St Pat...
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PolinDeB | Sep 27, 2010, 08:20 PM EDT
Let the gay's march for god sakes and yeah get David Norris for the Grand Marshall. If Ireland's favorite for next president can be gay, then it aint an Irish march without them....
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peglyons | Sep 27, 2010, 02:34 PM EDT
I am delighted to submit my own name for the position of Grand Marshall of the 2011 St. Patrick's Day Parade. My father was from Bailieborough, Co. Cavan and my mother from Scarriff, Co. Clare. I am in great form for a walk up 5th Avenue and promise to wave and smile.
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manhattan | Sep 27, 2010, 01:34 PM EDT
I hope people will read mareymoores explanation of why there are rules in the parade. I'm so sick of people accusing anyone who defends the rules of the parade as bigots, anti gay and worse. Why do gays want to march as gay? Maybe Mr. O'Doherty can give that side of the argument instead of just insulting everyone with a different opinion.
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maryemoore | Sep 27, 2010, 12:22 PM EDT
How many of you have ever read the Charter for the parade or know the history of its origins? The Charter clearly states that except for the banners of the 32 Counties there shall be no other signage permitted. This parade, unlike the one in Dublin is not a secular parade. The gays ARE allowed to march as any other Irish or Irish-American is permitted to do, just not with a banner. The parade, which pre-dates the independence of our country was organized in response to anti-Catholicism in the country. It's purpose was to celebrate the Catholic religion and for Irish people to stand up for their faith. And although the Archdiocese of NY does not run the parade, the AOH still maintains/defends the precepts of the faith of the Catholic Church. While you may not like them, that is another reason why the gays can march but without an identifying banner. They are not the only ones who have been denied an identifying banner. Pro-life groups have been denied as well as the Catholic League. So, before you go shooting off your mouth/write an article, know your facts.
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