Please join Irish Queers as we protest LGBT exclusion from the NewYork City St. Patrick's Day Parade. For 18 years, Irish and Irish American queers have been challenging the narrow definition of Irishness set forth by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a conservative, Catholic, all-male organization that runs many St. Patrick's Day Parades across the country. As a right wing organization, the AOH prohibits all LGBT people and anyone that is pro-choice from OPENLY taking part in their events.
Although the parade has been billed as the largest celebration of Irish culture in the world, the New York Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Catholic Archdiocese have redefined it as a private, religious event (taking place on public streets) where many Irish people are not welcome.
While our fight began in the 1990s within New York's Irish and church institutions, we have learned that the City, the NYPD and the courts are all willing to trample and erase the diverse fabric of the Irish community. Our struggle is not just with the parade organizers and Catholic hierarchy, but with military organizations, the NYPD, the FDNY and other public servants who use the parade to express sentiments of hate and superiority that are disallowed anywhere else.
Please join us on March 17th on Fifth Avenue @ 57th street (on the west side) from 11am - 1pm. Stand up for a definition of Irishness that values human rights and diverse communities!
For more information, send us an e-mail.
Although the parade has been billed as the largest celebration of Irish culture in the world, the New York Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Catholic Archdiocese have redefined it as a private, religious event (taking place on public streets) where many Irish people are not welcome.
While our fight began in the 1990s within New York's Irish and church institutions, we have learned that the City, the NYPD and the courts are all willing to trample and erase the diverse fabric of the Irish community. Our struggle is not just with the parade organizers and Catholic hierarchy, but with military organizations, the NYPD, the FDNY and other public servants who use the parade to express sentiments of hate and superiority that are disallowed anywhere else.
Please join us on March 17th on Fifth Avenue @ 57th street (on the west side) from 11am - 1pm. Stand up for a definition of Irishness that values human rights and diverse communities!
For more information, send us an e-mail.