September 9, 2014
Gay Activists: Include Us in St. Patrick's Parade
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 1 MIN.
Gay activists who have been pushing to join New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade since the 1990s say parade organizers must include them, not just a group for gay NBC employees.
Members of a group called Irish Queers held a news conference Tuesday to announce that they were applying for a spot in the 2015 parade. Then they dropped their application into a mailbox.
The St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee said last week that OUT@NBCUniversal would march in the 2015 parade. That's an LGBT resource group at the company that broadcasts the parade.
Irish Queers member Gabby Cryan called the invitation to the NBC group "a token gesture."
Parade spokesman Bill O'Reilly says the 2015 parade is full. He says other groups can apply for the 2016 parade.
