Why Irish gays march under their own banners in St. Pat's Parade
Posted on Friday, November 05, 2010 at 09:29 AM
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For years the final question that even well-meaning people ask about the ongoing controversy about the Saint Patrick's Day Parade is why do Irish gay groups insist on marching under their own banner?
Heterosexuals don't do it, they observe, so why should gays?
It's a good question. Here's the answer: If no one can see you, or your struggle, it's much easier to pretend you don't exist. Invisibility is the very thing that prevents you from achieving equality.
Believe it or not there are hundreds of thousands of Irish American LGBT citizens and the people who want to dismiss them out of hand are greatly helped when if they agree to airbrush themselves out of the picture. If you go quietly, you go unnoticed.
As no less a man than Gerry Adam's once observed (and gay equality groups are reluctantly discovering) in this world you get as much freedom as you take.
So the point of Irish gays marching under their own banners isn't to celebrate or promote homosexuality. They're not trying to persuade you or anyone to explore their sexual orientation. They're not insisting you embrace values you don't share.
No, they're fighting for their own lives.
Their point is counteract the fact that the only time a majority of people hear about gays in America is when they're being used as a crude pejorative.
If you're openly gay, let's face it, there are no county societies who'll be lining up to invite you; the GAA (a well-worn route to a new life in America) won't be the first organization you'll turn to; most Irish Catholic groups will look askance at you; and even the annual parade of all things Irish has gone to court to keep you out.
Talk about a Cead Mile Failte, eh?
And what does choosing Mary Higgins Clark say about the parade? She's 82, the embodiment of the values of an earlier age. And that makes anxiety about whether she'll complete the route real. We all acknowledge her achievements and class, but her selection (after President Mary McAleese's decision to decline) says something about the frozen in time outlook of the parade committee.
If Irish gays collude in the decades long campaign to sweep them under the carpet, or put them back in the closet, or if they even momentarily pretend that they have achieved legal equality with heterosexuals (when they certainly have not) they'd be foolish in the extreme.
It's completely disingenuous to ask why do you have to march under their own banners if you know that gay people don't have the same rights as you do. If you aren't daily working to support their equality under the law yourself, if you're not willing to stand with them, then perhaps you can finally appreciate now why they're standing up for themselves.
37 comments
hollabackgurl | Nov 05, 2010, 03:37 PM EDT
Rebelforce, the India day parade and the Israel day parade in NYC welcome gay marchers - do does the Saint Pat's in Dublin - so I'm glad you're open to rational thought.
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hollabackgurl | Nov 05, 2010, 03:34 PM EDT
If it's a Catholic parade then does it discriminate against everyone who is not? Are protestants excluded? Are atheists excluded? Are the Army, Navy and Police Force excluded? No they are not. It's you who needs to think about the implications of that Kilgara. And please, the Bible comes doen far harder on adulterers and divorcees. Are we going to prevent Rudy Giuliani from marching? You're full of it.
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kilgara | Nov 05, 2010, 03:23 PM EDT
Folks, this is a CATHOLIC parade to honor a CATHOLIC saint. The CATHOLIC church has always maintained that homosexual behavior is an abomination, so the idea that people who support and practice that same abomination should be allowed to proclaim and promote it in this parade is beyond absurd.Think about it.
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rcrdskpr@aol.com | Nov 05, 2010, 02:54 PM EDT
aahh, the irish gaylicks, sure and begorrah you wouldnt want some of them too close behint you and tailgating. and some of them lipstick lezzies are after the same women you are. dont forget the two gay irishmen, henry fitzpatrick and patrick fitzhenry.
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Rebelforce | Nov 05, 2010, 02:40 PM EDT
I think it would be a lot easier for Irish gays to make their case if they were able to point to gay groups marching in the Columbus Day, Puerto Rican Day, Thanksgiving Day or Pulaski Day parades and say, "other parades welcome gay groups marching, so why can't you?" But these parades don't welcome gay groups either. It seems the only parade targeted for gay inclusion over the years is the St Patrick's Day parade. Which raises the question, Why is that? St Patrick's Day has traditionally been a day focusing on celebrating Irishness, not whether you have a gay, straight, bi or asexual orientation.
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hollabackgurl | Nov 05, 2010, 01:58 PM EDT
I think you must be a remedial reader, "Truthseeking." This article clearly says that gays marching under their own banner isn't about gay sex either. It's about representation and achiving equality under the law. Irish American gay people pay more taxes for less representation. Telling them to stay invisible suits you, not them. That's selfish of you, not them.
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truthseeking | Nov 05, 2010, 01:44 PM EDT
Dear hollabackgurl:
Since you surely pride yourself on your love of diversity, I hope you'll join me in this little song about our amazing richness of difference:
Some of our parades are not like the others.
Some of our parades are not the same.
Some of our parades are not about gay sex.
Can you try to get that into your brain?!
Swing it.
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hollabackgurl | Nov 05, 2010, 01:26 PM EDT
40% of the homeless youth population in America is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, yet only make up 3 to 5% of the general youth population. They're being kicked out of their own homes by disapproving parents. What does that tell you about family values?
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killowen | Nov 05, 2010, 12:55 PM EDT
March under an Ian Paisley banner - it has adquate colors for all hues, of other than we regard as normal.
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Dublinjas | Nov 05, 2010, 12:35 PM EDT
Why don't you gays march under your own county Cork banner.
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talon3355 | Nov 05, 2010, 12:06 PM EDT
They're not insisting you embrace values you don't share"
I understand President McAleese statement about groups being visible but I have a problem when one spokesperson for this group has no control over the mass that they influence.
An example, Speaker Christen Quinn has always been outspoken about gays being not seen in the St Patrick’s Day Parade NY. My problem with this Quinn is not responsible for people that do go over the line a try to influence others. (Quinn is an opponent for the Dublin St Patrick’s parade because they allow Gays to identify this fact. Well in a Gay’s mag one of her follower (quoting Quinn) said that the Bishop of Dublin agreed with their actions because he was there in the stands participating in the parade. This is not true per Fr Des. Academic NI. AS Fr Des Wilson say Diversity of people is important but their actions does not mean everone has to be what they do.
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slainte9 | Nov 05, 2010, 12:04 PM EDT
It's a shame to condemn anyone to a life of loneliness. But pick your battles, is what you gain from annoying people with boycotts of certain parades worth the support you lose on the right to visit a loved one in a hospital. The Arizona immigration boycott sure backfired on you, didn't it.
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hollabackgurl | Nov 05, 2010, 11:35 AM EDT
Gay Irish people have no arguement with the AOH or any other Irish organization. They standing up for themselves, they're not standing against anyone. If you support equality and the American constituition you should stand with them. It's that simple.
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truthseeking | Nov 05, 2010, 11:26 AM EDT
Cathir Doherty: Do you support the "right" of recovered homosexuals (Harvest, for instance) who've abandoned the dead-end lifestyle to march behind banners in NYC's Gay Pride Parade that outrage the parade organizers and sponsors? Of course you don't. You're a little progressive commissar who doesn't believe in the natural, God-given, supposedly constitutionally-protected rights of the AOH to freedom of speech and assembly. You're the lavender velvet glove on the totalitarian fist, the very fist that will smash the genuine anti-war Democrats who try to protest against Obama's bloody imperialism at the 2012 convention. Cathir, don't bother appealing to the natural rights crowd when the empire turns on you.
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