Scott Lively shines some reality on St Patrick's parades

This is it, folks. The crossover is complete. After filtering out Irish LGBT groups and other Irish groups whose "message" the parade organizers don't like, and after making these cherished old Irish parades "private" and "Catholic" and all about military men and their gritted-teeth-smiling wives, the jig is up. These are the dregs. All that remains is the swill of homophobia and murderous religious-right.

He's done with Uganda and Nigeria, and now to attend to the business of destroying the lives, communities, and families of queers at home. Scott Lively is welcomed by the keep-the-gays-out movement of St. Patrick's Day parades. Why not? He's one of them.

Governor candidate and anti-gay activist Scott Lively marches in Boston St. Patrick's Parade

Pastor Scott Lively (center) enters U.S. District Courthouse in Springfield in this past photograph. (John Suchocki / The Republican)

By The Republican Newsroom 
on March 16, 2014 at 6:51 PM, updated March 16, 2014 at 7:01 PM

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BOSTON – Springfield-based anti-gay minister Scott Lively announced he proudly marched in Sunday’s St. Patrick’s Day which many politicians skipped because parade organizers have banned gay, bisexual and lesbian groups. 

Lively, a Shelburne Falls native who owns the Holy Grounds coffee shop in Springfield, is running as a independent candidate for governor. He said he marched with his new running mate Shelly Saunders, of Springfield, and a small contingent of supporters. 

Many other politicians, including Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Congressman Stephen Lynch, skipped the parade after they could not come to an agreement with organizers to allow gays and lesbians to march in the parade. The maker of Sam Adams beer also withdrew his support. 

“The LGBT bullies, including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, are giving the St. Paddy’s Day Parade organizers a hard time for keeping the parade a family-friendly event, but they are standing strong for family values and not bowing to intimidation,” Lively said in a press release. 

“The media is predictably crying ’discrimination,’ but thank God the United States Supreme Court has ruled that the parade organizers have the constitutional right to exclude anyone they please,” he said in writing. 

Lively said he was marching to represent all the voters who believe in “authentic marriage and the Biblical model of family.” 

Lively is no stranger to controversy. His crusade against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has taken him around the world and most recently to federal court. Based on his anti-gay talks in Uganda, where the anti-gay movement pushed a bill to passage that criminalizes homosexuality, Lively is accused of crimes against humanity in a lawsuit filed by human rights groups Sexual Minorities Uganda and New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. 

He also recently defended reality show “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson’s who compared homosexuality to bestiality. 

He jumped into the 2014 Massachusetts governor’s race this fall as an independent candidate to “unapologetically articulate Biblical values without fear or compromise.“ 

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$inn Fein Hypocrisy

Once again, Gerry Adams lost his principles some where over the Atlantic between Belfast and Boston. Last weekend, Adams participated in the anti-gay St. Patrick's Day Parade in Southie and made a speech at the Clover Club which does not allow women. It should be noted than many local politicians boycott the Southie parade because of its homophobia, just as many local politicians do not go to the Clover Club because of its inherent sexism.

Press was also barred from his speech at the Clover Club. He subsequently told the Irish Times:

"Obviously, I'm against exclusion, I'm for inclusivity. I made that point. I'm sorry you weren't allowed in, you should have been allowed in."

We think that his position is not obvious, and that he failed miserably to make his point. The best way to make the point would be refusing to attend. But that would jeopoardize the whole point of his trip, which is to raise funds from wealthy, right-wing, Irish American men wouldn't it?

*****UPDATE*****

From the blog of Gerry Adams....

There has been controversy around some of the parades, particularly those in New York and Boston because they refuse to allow gay and lesbian groups to participate. $inn Féin long ago made clear our opposition to exclusion. Our policy in support of gay and lesbian rights is long standing. However, we are not prepared to exclude ourselves from opportunitie$ to promote the peace process and $inn Féin’s objective of Irish unity.

This pathetic explanation tells us what we already know....LGBT people are not part of the "we" or the "our." If SF truly valued LGBT people, we would be part of the "we."

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This is what Irish American bigotry looks like

This is what Irish American anti-gay bigotry looks like. This is the warm welcome GLIB received in Boston in 1992 when they marched in the Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade. This photo taken by Marilyn Humphries comes from Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders website where they are profiling memorable cases from their 30 year history. For further information, check out the resources listed.

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They call him "Wacko" for a reason........

"We aren't scared to do things that aren't fitting to, say, 'peace on earth' and all that," said John "Wacko" Hurley, who organizes the parade for the Allied War Veterans of South Boston. "We all want peace, but our obligation is supporting the armed forces. So, nope, we don't have any problems with that."

(From this Boston Globe article titled, Calendar Collision for Irish Catholics: St. Pat's Day vs. Holy Week.)

That is the wisdom of Wacko, the Hurley of Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston homophobic fame. This is also the same dude that denied the Boston Veterans for Peace from marching in the Southie parade last year. So apparently in Boston, the St. Pat's Parade is at its core a military parade, not a Catholic or Irish parade. So listen up, Irish folks.....from Hurley's mouth, to the Boston Globe, to the rest of the world: the U.S. military is far greater than God & the Holy Catholic Church.

I'm sure Wacko could care less about getting justice for Ciara Durkin and her family.

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What ever happened to the Irish American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston?

I was reading this article in Bay Windows about the GLAD's (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) 30th anniversary and it made me wonder.....what ever happened to GLIB aka the Irish American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston? If you go to almost any online search engine and try to find information on Irish/Irish American LGBT issues, information about Supreme Court case Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Group of Boston will be in your top results.

Here in NYC, it has been 17 years now that queers have been fighting to be recognized as members of the Irish/Irish American community. Though the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization (ILGO) is now defunct, the parade issue is still very much alive. Brendan Fay (a former ILGO member) and the Lavender and Green Alliance created an inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade in Queens in 2000 to celebrate "the diversity of the Irish and Irish American communities." Irish Queers, an organization that grew out of ILGO beginning in 1996, continues to organize the annual parade protest in addition to being active on other social justice issues.

As an ex-pat of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the last I remember, queers could march in the Cambridge St. Patrick's Day Parade.....but what about protesting about the Southie parade? If you have any information about what happened to GLIB or any other information about Irish LGBT issues in Boston (or any other US city), give us a shout. We'd love to hear from you :-)

(Picture was found here)

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