As NYC celebrates Irish immigrants, Irish-American and NYC racial justice groups protest NYPD’s role in deporting immigrants of color

PRESS RELEASE

Despite “Sanctuary City”, groups charge that aggressive Broken Windows policing feeds immigrants to ICE – while NYPD avoids targeting white immigrants.

New York – Irish American and NYC racial justice groups protested today at the NYPD Emerald Society’s post-parade party. Protesters demanded that the NYPD stop helping federal ICE agents deport New York’s immigrants by aggressively making arrests for tiny, non-criminal infractions. Groups included Irish Queers, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Community Voices Heard, and SURJ NYC (Showing Up for Racial Justice).

“Broken Windows is a flawed policy that wrongly targets Blacks and Latinos. We call on this administration to end Broken Windows and make New York a true Sanctuary City,” said Claudia Perez, member-leader of Community Voices Heard.

As NYPD officers celebrated their Irish immigrant heritage, picketers carrying signs called them to stop victimizing current-day immigrants. NYPD union boss Ed Mullins (Seargent’s Benevolent Association) confirmed this month that NYPD officers personally want to “help ICE” by targeting immigrants for deportation, and that officers resent city policy that prevents them from performing immigration checks.

“Irish-American police officers shouldn’t forget from what and where they came.  People fleeing for a better life, fighting for their right to exist, and prevailing against tyranny is scratch-deep in their history. It’s the same struggle for immigrant and racial justice that we’re facing now,” said J.F. Mulligan of Irish Queers.

Protesters charged that, despite “Sanctuary City” rules, the NYPD is already driving the deportation of New Yorkers by arresting them for non-criminal Broken Windows offenses. New federal policy directs ICE to deport documented and undocumented immigrants who have been arrested, regardless of the outcome of the arrest.

NYPD arrests for low-level offenses overwhelmingly target communities of color. This biased policing makes immigrants of color particularly unsafe, while leaving white immigrants relatively untouched.

“Our Irish-American families mostly came to the US under desperate circumstances and were treated poorly here,” said Jennifer Hadlockof SURJ NYC.“I’m here to confront the hypocrisy of Irish-American police officers now enforcing the horrible treatment of people of color, including immigrants, through unnecessary arrests that lead to people being deported. It’s blatant white supremacy, we cannot let it go unchallenged.”

Broken Windows mandates arrests, not summonses, for littering, subwaysleeping, jaywalking, panhandling, unlicensed dogs, and other infractions.Thousands of such arrests are made weekly, but do not improve safety, according to a 2016 DOI report.

“We protested the St. Patrick's parade for decades because the Irish community is not the bigoted, hyper-religious cabal the parade portrayed. Neither is the Irish community represented by the racist NYPD, despite the historic connections,” said Mulligan. “Irish resistance against racist authority is the best of our history.”

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Date: March 17, 2017

Contact: (917) 517-3627, irishqueers@gmail.com

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3/17: Irish cops should GET immigrant rights. Protest NYPD criminalization of immigrants.

Friday March 17, 1-2:30pm

50th St/West Side Highway, at Pier 90
Protest outside NYPD Emerald Society's St. Patrick’s Day party. 

This St. Patrick's Day, tell the NYPD to celebrate ALL of New York's immigrants.

Stop targeting communities of color.

Stop helping ICE deport New Yorkers.

Please RSVP if possible, thanks!
https://www.facebook.com/events/681203075395042


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The NYPD officers’ union says they’re eager to help ICE deport immigrant New Yorkers.

NYPD officers celebrating Irish heritage on March 17 should recall that their Irish grandparents fled violence and hunger, and were persecuted because they weren’t considered white in the US. But NYPD union boss Ed Mullins says these cops want to help ICE deport Latinx & Muslim immigrants for Trump.

Broken Windows policies allow the NYPD to deliver New York's immigrants into ICE's hands. Aggressive policing of low-level offenses needlessly arrests hundreds of black and brown people every week, including immigrants. Arrests make people extremely vulnerable to deportation, regardless of whether they committed a crime. Mayor DeBlasio refuses to rein in these NYPD tactics.

White people -- including white immigrants -- are mostly left out of Broken Windows arrests, at the NYPD's discretion.

It's racist, anti-immigrant, and dangerous.

For immigrants' safety, and for our communities: Stop Broken Windows policing.

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Join Irish Queers, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Community Voices Heard, SURJ NYC and others (list in formation.)Protest discriminatory policing that helps ICE deport New Yorkers.

For more information, 917-517-3627

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City Limits: Mayor de Blasio can do more than boycott

Exposing the parade organizers' sideways cuts at a religious "free speech" right to discrimination, and the NYPD and City Hall's wildly underreported support for the bigoted message of the parade... And calling on a mayor who has shown he cares about this issue to step all the way up to end the excuses.

Mayor must reckon with St. Patrick's Parade Legacies
3/2/15

http://citylimits.org/2015/03/02/op-ed-mayor-must-reckon-with-st-patricks-parade-legacies/

"De Blasio's boycott alone may not be enough to end the discrimination, but he has the authority to do even more. The question of how to deal with the anti-gay parade has long been muddied by a 1993 court case refiguring it as a private, anti-gay Catholic procession. The mayor's boycott of the parade obscures another problem: City Hall has long supported the parade organizers' exclusion of Irish LGBT groups, and it hasn't stopped yet. If negotiations are underway – the mayor hasn't acknowledged them, but media reports have – then it's time to set the record straight on these two legacies. And it's time for the mayor to take the additional steps he can."

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What IrishCentral says, and what it means.

Photo: Niall O'Dowd's Facebook page, where he declares
himself an "expert in all things Irish and Irish American."

We've often thought of starting a section on this blog called "Why does the Irish Voice/IrishCentral  hate us now?" The publisher Niall O'Dowd, and his wife/columnist Debbie McGoldrick, have devoted a LOT of effort to dumping on us. Especially when we're winning a little on the parade issue, they inevitably print a story that talks about how we're not really part of the Irish community and don't "deserve" a spot in the parade.

We've never bothered to write those posts before. But now we're close -- really close -- to overturning the ban. And O'Dowd has predictably come for us with his claws out. So we'll take this on, hopefully just the one time.

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What he says: Irish Queers doesn't have "real standing" in the Irish community, unlike another Irish gay voice who is "preferring to continue to negotiate."

What he means: Irish Queers is the follow-on group from the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization. O'Dowd was initially supportive of the group, which he claims to have started by publishing a meet-up notice in the Irish Voice in 1990. His vision, it seems, was that New York's downtrodden Irish LGBT immigrants would find each other, form a social circle, and have no politics other than his own. What happened instead was that Irish queer immigrants -- some of whom were already politicized and none of whom was interested in crowning O'Dowd as their rescuer -- formed a social and political group. ILGO challenged the Catholic Archdiocese, the sexism and racism of the New York Irish political establishment, and the regime of brutally enforced politeness that tried to muzzle queers, Irish republicans, and other protesters.

So when O'Dowd says Irish Queers don't have standing, he means we don't have standing with him, and with the entwined business, political, and religious power brokers who run official Irish politics.

He also means that the Irish community in New York is a tiny, closed circle of people who can be brought in or pushed out -- and not the expansive, bustling community of New Yorkers who share in different aspects of Irish culture, different relationships with Ireland, and wildly different politics. He means: "I own this b****!"

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What he says: "Irish Queers is a fit-for-purpose once a year serial boycotter of the parade. Their website is an angry harangue against the parade and cops who are alleged racists. They are the Irish equivalent of Act Up."

What he means: O'Dowd knows nothing about Irish Queers that he doesn't read in the paper or on this blog, and even there we're only of interest to him when we talk about the parade. He's not interested in our work on antiracism from an Irish perspective in New York, nor our support for Irish activism on Palestine, nor activities like supporting political prisoners. But he does think we're Irish enough to be the Irish equivalent of ACT UP, so there's something. (P.S. A lot of those ungrateful ILGO queers he "saved" were also in ACT UP!)

He also means that challenging racist policing has nothing to do with Irish politics or community. Really, he thinks that!!

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What he says: "Of all people, Brendan Fay and his organization deserve to march in the parade. They have earned it over the years, staging an alternative parade in Queens, being open and inclusive and above all involved on issues outside the parade such as immigration and Northern Ireland."

What he means: There are good queers and there are bad queers. Instead of asking politely for bigots to be nice to them, bad queers confront them on the street and in the press. Instead of negotiating deals in smoky rooms, they prefer public conversations about right and wrong. Good queers go to Mass, they attend fundraisers, they preserve the sanctity of the back room deal. Good queers are grateful to O'Dowd.

He means (it seems?) that homophobia and religious bigotry would have naturally faded under the withering pressure of an alternative parade. That the 25 years of protest at the parade, and of civil disobedience in which queers laid their bodies on the line against church and NYPD violence, were rude diversions by imposters "seeking a cheap headline."

He means he wants to rewrite the history, just at the moment that we win. He wants queer challenges to the NYPD, the church, the City, and the old conservative bastions of Irish New York fade to away. In their place, he wants the story to be that asking nicely is what did the trick. Fat chance.

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Protest Eric Garner verdict - Thurs. 12/4 at 5:30pm

Many protests are planned for tonight and tomorrow in the wake of the failure to indict Eric Garner's killer.
Irish Queers are going together tomorrow (Thursday) at 5:30pm, Foley Square.
Please join us -- text 917-517-3627 to find us.

Others tonight include:
5pm Times Square
7pm Union Square
7pm Rockefeller Center/Christmas Tree lighting

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Protest TONIGHT -- against white supremacy & for Black lives.

Outrage, grief, solidarity, action.
5pm at Union Square today - Tuesday Nov. 25
--------------------------------
NOV. 25 -- EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROTEST TO THE FERGUSON GRAND JURY! INDICT Darren Wilson!

In NYC, gather at Union Square Park, 17th Street South Side 5pm on TUESDAY 11/25

https://www.facebook.com/events/367725876729641/

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News clips from St. Patrick's Day protest!

Here's the big, serious round-up of NYC and US press clips from yesterday's protest! International press clips will be posted shortly. xo IQ
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Village Voice | March 18, 2014 | Anna Merlan

This Was The Gayest St. Patrick's Day Ever, Relatively Speaking

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/03/st_patricks_day_stonewall_inn_guinness_parade_homophobia.php

Village Voice | March 18, 2014 | Jenna Pope

Irish Queers Rally at St. Patrick's Day Parade (PHOTOS)

http://www.villagevoice.com/slideshow/irish-queers-rally-at-st-patricks-day-parade-41020375/

ABC News New York | March 17, 2014 | Dave Evans

St. Patrick's Day parade proceeds amid tension over gays

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=9468434

The Advocate | March 17, 2014 | Michelle Garcia

A Brief History of Gays and the St. Patrick's Day Parade http://www.advocate.com/politics/2014/03/17/brief-history-gays-and-st-patricks-day-parade

Al Jazeera | March 17, 2014

St Patrick's parades held in US amid gay row

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/03/st-patrick-parades-held-us-amid-gay-row-2014317201151506795.html

amNewYork | March 17, 2014 | Morgan Lyle

St. Patrick's Day parade brings thousands to Fifth Ave.

http://www.amny.com/news/st-patrick-s-day-parade-brings-thousands-to-fifth-ave-1.7419790

amNewYork | March 17, 2014

Photos of the St. Patrick's Day Parade In NYC

http://www.amny.com/news/photos-of-the-st-patrick-s-day-parade-in-nyc-1.7416260

amNewYork | March 17, 2014

Guinness pulls out of NYC parade over gay ban

http://www.amny.com/news/guinness-pulls-out-of-nyc-parade-over-gay-ban-1.7412789

amNewYork | March 17, 2014 | Dan Rivoli

Catholic League head calls for Catholic boycott of beer

http://www.amny.com/news/catholic-league-head-calls-for-catholic-boycott-of-beer-1.7416245

Associated Press | March 17, 2014 | Meghan Barr and Verena Dobnik

St. Pat's parades proceed amid tension over gays

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/st-pats-parades-proceed-amid-tension-over-gays

Associated Press TV via amNewYork | March 17, 2014

Guinness Ends NYC St. Pat's Parade Sponsorship [Video]

http://www.amny.com/news/guinness-ends-nyc-st-pat-s-parade-sponsorship-1.7411849

Associated Press via Wall Street Journal | March 17, 2014

NYC mayor honors Ireland's prime minister

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP27f93175a9fe4140868dd54712a1342b.html

Capital New York | March 17, 2014 | Sally Goldenberg

Amid disagreements, De Blasio celebrates the Irish

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/03/8542089/amid-disagreements-de-blasio-celebrates-irish

CBS News New York | March 17, 2014

NYC’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Marches Up Fifth Avenue Amid Controversy [Audio, Video]

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/03/17/spectators-set-to-line-fifth-avenue-for-nycs-st-patricks-day-parade/

Channel 11 WPIX News | March 16, 2014 | Alyssa Zauderer

Guinness Beer drops sponsorship of NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade over LGBT policy [Video]

http://pix11.com/2014/03/16/guinness-beer-drops-sponsorship-of-nyc-st-patricks-day-parade-over-lgbt-policy/

Channel 12 News Long Island | March 14, 2014

St. Patrick's Day Parade held in NYC amid tensions over LGBT inclusion [Video]

http://longisland.news12.com/news/st-patrick-s-day-parade-held-in-nyc-amid-tensions-over-lgbt-inclusion-1.7412592

Channel 41 WXTV Univision | March 16, 2014

Desfile de San Patricio lleno de controversias

http://nuevayork.univision.com/videos/video/2014-03-17/desfile-de-san-patricio-lleno

Christian Science Monitor | March 17, 2014 | Karis Hustad

Why beer brands side with gay community, not St. Patrick's parades

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2014/0317/Why-beer-brands-side-with-gay-community-not-St.-Patrick-s-parades

Christian Science Monitor | March 17, 2014 | Noelle Swan

St. Patrick's Day: How did it become a flashpoint for gay rights? [Video]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/0317/St.-Patrick-s-Day-How-did-it-become-a-flashpoint-for-gay-rights-video

CNN | March 17, 2014 | Haimy Assefa

New York, Boston mayors back LGBT groups, reject St. Patrick's Day parades

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/17/us/mayors-st-patricks-day-parades/

CNN | March 17, 2014 | Richard Quest

Guinness: Ending sponsorship right thing [Video]

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/business/2014/03/17/qmb-guinness-parade-sponsorship-larry-schwartz-intv.cnn

The Daily Beast | March 17, 2014 | Michael Tomasky

The Grotesque Ban On Gays In New York’s St Patrick’s Day Parade

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/17/the-grotesque-ban-on-gays-in-new-york-s-st-patrick-s-day-parade.html

Daily Caller | March 17, 2014 | Caroline May

Beer companies protest exclusion of gays from parade technically celebrating Christian saint

http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/17/beer-companies-protest-exclusion-of-gays-from-parade-technically-celebrating-christian-saint/

Daily Mail | March 17, 2014 

New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade attracts more than a million spectators including gay protesters along the route [Video]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2583021/New-York-Citys-St-Patricks-Day-parade-attracts-million-spectators-including-gay-protesters-route.html

DNAinfo | March 17, 2014 | Gustavo Solis and Colby Hamilton

St. Patrick's Day Parade Fills Fifth Ave. Despite Controversy

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20140317/midtown/st-patricks-day-parade-fills-fifth-ave-despite-controversy

Fox News New York | March 17, 2014

NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/24992131/nyc-st-patricks-day-parade-traffic-and-transit-alert

Gay City News | March 17, 2014 | Andy Humm

With Fewer Sponsors, Anti-Gay St. Pat’s Parade Protested for 23rd Year

http://gaycitynews.com/fewer-sponsors-anti-gay-st-pats-parade-protested-23rd-year/

Gothamist | March 17, 2014 | Camille Lawhead

'No (Gay) Irish Need Apply': LGBTQ Groups Protest St. Patrick's Day Parade

http://gothamist.com/2014/03/17/while_mayor_bill_de_blasio.php#photo-1

Gothamist | March 16, 2014 | Rebecca Fishbein

[UPDATED] Heineken, Sam Adams Pull Out Of St. Patrick's Parades Over LGBTQ Ban

http://gothamist.com/2014/03/16/heineken_sam_adams_pull_out_of_st_p.php

Gothamist | March 17, 2014 | Nell Casey

Stonewall Inn Restocks Guinness As Company Pulls Support Of St. Patrick's Day Parade

http://gothamist.com/2014/03/17/guinness_st_patricks_day.php

The Guardian | March 17, 2014 | Amanda Holpuch and Kayla Epstein

Ford among few remaining supporters of New York's St Patrick's Day parade

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/17/ford-supporters-new-york-lgbt-st-patricks-day-parade

Huffington Post | March 17, 2014 | Caelainn Hogan

St. Patrick's Day Parade's 'Disgraceful' Message to Irish LGBTQ Community

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/caelainn-hogan-/new-york-st-patricks-day-parade_b_4979161.html

IrishCentral | March 17, 2014 | Kate Hickey

New York City St Patrick's Day parade 2014 [Photos]

http://www.irishcentral.com/photo/New-York-City-St-Patricks-Day-parade-2014.html

IrishCentral | March 17, 2014 | Niall O'Dowd

Bill De Blasio mends fences with Irish but no mention of parade

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/politics/Bill-De-Blasio-mends-fences-with-Irish-but-no-mention-of-parade.html

IrishCentral | March 17, 2014 | Niall O'Dowd

Guinness withdraws from NY parade, says they want to help find a solution

http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/Excluding-gays-proving-disastrous-for-business-for-StPatricks-parades-.html

IrishCentral | March 17, 2014 | Patrick Counihan

Irish Americans upset with New York’s Mayor de Blasio says NY Times

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/politics/Irish-Americans-upset-with-New-Yorks-Mayor-de-Blasio-says-NY-Times.html

IrishCentral | March 17, 2014 | Cahir O'Doherty

Welcome to your traditional St. Patrick's PR nightmare, Enda Kenny

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/politics/Welcome-to-your-traditional-St-Pats-PR-nightmare-Enda-Kenny.html

IrishCentral | March 16, 2014 | Niall O'Dowd

Excluding gays proving disastrous for business for St.Patrick’s parades

http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/Excluding-gays-proving-disastrous-for-business-for-StPatricks-parades-.html

Irish Examiner | March 18, 2014 | Mary Regan

Taoiseach ‘proud’ to march in parade decried as homophobic

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/taoiseach-proud-to-march-in-parade-decried-as-homophobic-262355.html

Irish Times | March 17, 2014 | Simon Carswell

Taoiseach misses gay protest at New York St Patrick’s Day parade

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/taoiseach-misses-gay-protest-at-new-york-st-patrick-s-day-parade-1.1728681

Irish Times | March 17, 2014 | Simon Carswell

Taoiseach defends decision to march in New York parade

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/taoiseach-defends-decision-to-march-in-new-york-parade-1.1728472

Latin Post | March 17, 2014 | Matthew Reis

St. Patricks Day Parade Celebrations and Scandal

http://www.latinpost.com/articles/9062/20140317/st-patricks-day-parade-celebrations-scandal.htm

MassLive | March 17, 2014 | Conor Berry

Gays are OK in Dublin St. Patrick's Day parade, but must remain closeted in Boston, New York parades

http://www.masslive.com/news/boston/index.ssf/2014/03/gays_are_ok_in_dublin_and_cork.html

Mediaite | March 17, 2014 | Luke O'Neil

Guinness Pulls Out of NYC’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade over LGBT Snub

http://www.mediaite.com/online/guinness-pulls-out-of-nycs-st-patricks-day-parade-over-lgbt-snub/

Media Matters | March 14, 2014 | Carlos Maza

Fox News' Defense Of Anti-Gay Discrimination At NYC's St. Patrick's Day Parade

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/03/14/fox-news-defense-of-anti-gay-discrimination-at/198488

Media Research Center - Newsbusters | March 17, 2014 | Scott Whitlock

ABC, NBC Push a St. Patrick’s Day ‘Controversy Hanging Over’ Gays Not Marching in Parades

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2014/03/17/abc-nbc-push-st-patrick-s-day-controversy-hanging-over-gays-marching

Metro New York | March 7, 2014

PHOTOS: New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade marred by boycotts [Photos]

http://www.metro.us/newyork/news/local/2014/03/17/photos-new-york-st-patricks-day-parade-marred-boycotts/

Mother Jones | March 17, 2014 | Asawin Suebsaeng

Guinness and Other Beers Pull Out of St. Patrick's Day Parade Over Ban on Openly Gay Marchers

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/03/heineken-sam-adams-guinness-st-patricks-day-parade-pull-sponsorships-lgbt-ban

NBC News New York | March 17, 2014

NYC Celebrates St. Patrick's Day With Parade Up Fifth Avenue [Photos]

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/watch-live-st-patricks-day-parade-2014-new-york-city-5th-Avenue-250231661.html

Newsday | March 17, 2014 | Morgan Lyle

Thousands brave cold temps at St. Pat's parade [Video]

http://www.newsday.com/news/thousands-brave-cold-temps-at-st-pat-s-parade-1.7419198

Newsday | March 17, 2014

NYC's St. Patrick's Day parade 2014 [Photos]

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/nyc-s-st-patrick-s-day-parade-2014-1.7414416#1

Newsweek | March 17, 2014 | Victoria Bekiempis

Guinness Opts Out of NYC’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Over Anti-Gay Policy

http://www.newsweek.com/guinness-opts-out-nycs-st-patricks-day-parade-over-anti-gay-policy-232118

New York 1 News - Time Warner Cable | March 17, 2014

Fifth Avenue Goes Green for Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade

http://www.ny1.com/content/news/205355/fifth-avenue-goes-green-for-annual-st--patrick-s-day-parade

New York Daily News | March 18, 2014 | Jennifer Fermino

Mayor de Blasio honors the Irish on St. Patrick's Day while skipping the parade

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/mayor-de-blasio-honors-irish-st-patrick-day-skips-parade-article-1.1725080

New York Daily News | March 17, 2014 | Caitlin Nolan and Ginger Adams Otis 

Raining on their parade: Fight over rights of gays to march openly on St. Patrick's Day dampens mood of festivity

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/gay-rights-fight-dampens-mood-st-patrick-parade-article-1.1724231

New York Daily News | March 17, 2014

Patrick's Day Parade kicks off in New York City [Photos]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/st-patrick-day-parade-new-york-city-gallery-1.1724481

New York Daily News | March 17, 2014 | Denis Hamill

Hamill: Cheers to Guinness, the Pope for rejecting bigotry on St. Patrick's Day

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hamill-cheers-guinness-pope-rejecting-bigotry-st-patrick-day-article-1.1724815

New York Daily News | March 17, 2014

Readers sound off on the St. Patrick’s Day Parade

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/pain-behind-today-parade-article-1.1722343

New York Magazine | March 16, 2014 | Margaret Hartmann

The Gay Rights Battle Over New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade: A History [Video]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/gay-rights-st-patricks-day-parade.html

New York Post | March 18, 2014 | Antonio Antenucci, Amber Sutherland and Lorena Mongelli

Huge crowds turn out for St. Patrick’s Day Parade

http://nypost.com/2014/03/18/huge-crowds-turn-out-for-st-patricks-day-parade/

New York Post | March 17, 2014 | Richard Johnson

Boycotting Heineken and Guinness

http://pagesix.com/2014/03/17/boycotting-heineken-and-guinness/?_ga=1.134939633.18070922.1380463395

New York Post | March 16, 2014 | Leonard Greene

Guinness ditches St. Paddy’s parade over LGBT ban

http://nypost.com/2014/03/16/guinness-pulls-sponsorship-from-st-pattys-parade-over-lgbt-ban/

New York Times | March 17, 2014 | Robert Mackey

Murdoch Urges Irish to Boycott Guinness Over Its Embrace of Gay Rights

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/murdoch-urges-irish-to-boycott-guinness-over-its-embrace-of-gay-rights/

New York Times | March 17, 2014

A Parade Goes On Without the Mayor [Photos]

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/a-parade-goes-on-without-the-mayor/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

New York Times | March 16, 2014 | Ashley Southall

Guinness Withdraws Sponsorship of St. Patrick’s Day Parade

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/nyregion/guinness-withdraws-sponsorship-of-st-patricks-day-parade.html?_r=1

New York Times | March 16, 2014 | Michael Grynbaum and Nikita Stewart

Amid Mayoral Missteps and Snubs of Parades, Irish Eyes Are Rolling in New York

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/nyregion/amid-mayoral-missteps-irish-eyes-are-rolling-in-new-york-city.html?hpw&rref=nyregion

Out | March 17, 2014

Rupert Murdoch Urges Boycott of Pro-Equality Guinness

http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2014/03/17/rupert-murdoch-urges-boycott-pro-equality-guinness

Politicker | March 17, 2014 | Jill Colvin

De Blasio Kicks Off St. Patrick’s Day With Gracie Breakfast

http://politicker.com/2014/03/de-blasio-kicks-off-st-patricks-day-with-gracie-breakfast/

Reuters | March 17, 2014 | Victoria Cavaliere

New York's St. Patrick's parade marches on amid gay rights controversy

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/17/us-usa-new-york-st-patricks-idUSBREA2G1E120140317

Reuters | March 17, 2014

Demonstrators protest as members of the FDNY Pipes and Drums Em march during the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York [Photo]

http://www.trust.org/item/20140317183411-3lsog/

Demonstrators protest as members of the FDNY Pipes and Drums Em march during the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York [Photo]

http://www.trust.org/item/20140317180638-vfetx/

Demonstrators protest as members of the NYPD march during the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York [Photo]

http://www.trust.org/item/20140317180238-qvazt/

Demonstrators protest as members of the NYPD march during the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York [Photo]

http://www.trust.org/item/20140317180338-r4mie/

Reuters | March 16, 2014 | Elizabeth Barber

Guinness pulls out of NY's St. Patrick's parade over ban on gays

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/17/us-usa-boston-st-patricks-idUSBREA2F0HY20140317

Reuters | March 15, 2014 | Anna Hiatt

Beer makers drop out of St. Pat's parades that ban openly gay marchers

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/15/usa-parade-beer-idUSL2N0MB1Z720140315

Salon | March 17, 2014 | Mary Elizabeth Williams

The fight for LGBT equality will be won with beer

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/17/the_fight_for_lgbt_equality_will_be_won_with_beer/

Staten Island Advance | March 17, 2014 | Mark D. Stein

St. Patrick's Day 2014: Staten Island goes green at annual Fifth Avenue parade (with photos)

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/03/st_patricks_day_2014_staten_is.html#incart_river

United Press International | March 17, 2014 | Aileen Graef

Irish politicians criticize U.S. LGBT exclusion in St. Patrick's Day parades

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2014/03/17/Irish-politicians-criticize-US-LGBT-exclusion-in-St-Patricks-Day-parades/8711395078869/

Vice News | March 16, 2014 | Mary O'Hara

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade LGBT Ban Is Distinctly American

https://news.vice.com/articles/the-st-patrick-s-day-parade-lgbt-ban-is-distinctly-american

Voice of America | March 17, 2014 | Adam Phillips

NYC Hosts St. Patrick's Day Parade

http://www.voanews.com/content/nyc-hosts-st-patricks-parade/1873351.html

Wall Street Journal | March 17, 2014 | Michael Howard Saul

Without Mayor de Blasio, St. Patrick's Day Parade Marches On

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304017604579445241290163918

Wall Street Journal

Photos: St. Patrick’s Day Marches On in New York City

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2014/03/17/photos-st-patricks-day-marches-on-in-new-york-city/?mod=newsreel

Washington Times | March 17, 2014

EDITORIAL: Keep St. Patrick’s Day parades free of gay politics

De Blasio, Walsh want to make the saint’s day all about sex

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/17/editorial-leave-st-patrick-alone/

WNYC Radio News | March 17, 2014 | Stephen Nessen

PHOTOS: Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade Picketed by Protesters

http://www.wnyc.org/story/photos-st-patricks-day-parade-2014-picketed/

WNYC Radio News | March 17, 2014 | Kathleen Horan

Bratton Says He Marched to Honor NYPD Tradition, Not Against Gay Groups [Audio]

http://www.wnyc.org/story/bratton_marched_to_honor_nypd_tradition_not_against_gay_groups/

WNYC Radio| March 17, 2014 

Brian Lehrer Show - Irish-American Grievances

http://www.wnyc.org/story/irish-american-grievances/

WNYC Radio News | March 16, 2014 | Sarah Hayley Barrett

Why the Furor Over Manhattan's St. Patrick's Day Parade?

http://www.wnyc.org/story/explainer-new-yorks-st-patricks-day/

Associated Press Images | March 17, 2014

253rd Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade

http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/SIPA-Anthony-Behar-Sipa-USA-A-NY-USA-13284556/a340c67667764777906e205b5f5d33e9/6/0

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http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/SIPA-Anthony-Behar-Sipa-USA-A-NY-USA-13284554/c140eede98d74ae7a1e032101f374b47/10/0

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http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/SIPA-Anthony-Behar-Sipa-USA-A-NY-USA-13284550/7e868aee9ea443ef8f62e88acb9874cb/15/0

http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/SIPA-Anthony-Behar-Sipa-USA-A-NY-USA-13284549/04a0d9baa1a04de68d7fea090c76310f/16/0

http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/SIPA-Anthony-Behar-Sipa-USA-A-NY-USA-13284548/cff746ed12364eb592bbfb59a2e8ad4c/18/0

http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/SIPA-Anthony-Behar-Sipa-USA-A-NY-USA-13284530/4b221e241a9e470f85c73043b7735c9b/23/0

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http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/SIPA-Anthony-Behar-Sipa-USA-A-NY-USA-13284528/d8d56fcacf254a949cd380e44862d600/33/0

Associated Press Images | March 17, 2014

St Patrick's Parade

http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/St-Patricks-Parade/0e65869f734a40ea901041095ca5aeae/5/0

http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/St-Patricks-Parade/b59194e5bc6d4322898a2308a590fe98/6/0

http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/St-Patricks-Day/f697f41000fb4c8e8760c16d510fd7d6/7/0

http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/St-Patricks-Day/0cdcbc6f7d8b4bbea89c9bbedba63ac7/8/0

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Compiled by:

Bill Dobbs

March 18, 2014

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3/17 statement from Irish Queers

STATEMENT FROM IRISH QUEERS

PROTEST @ NYC ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE

MARCH 17, 2014

 

We are encouraged and happy that Heineken and Guinness have just dropped their sponsorship of the NYC St Patrick's Day parade because of the parade’s unapologetic homophobia. The hatred represented by this parade has gotten clearer and more untenable every year for more than two decades.

 

Those who still stand with the parade are making a clear choice to endorse bigotry. That includes Ford Motors, NBC, Fordham University – and the NYPD. It’s incredible that the whole world is decrying the homophobia of the parade, but New York’s police and fire departments still think it’s somehow okay to march in uniformed, official contingents of thousands of officers. It’s tragic that beer companies have a stronger moral compass than the NYPD.

 

There’s pressure on other sponsors to do the right thing before next year’s parade. When sponsors finally stop paying for religious-right homophobia, the parade can go back to being Irish and including the rich diversity of the Irish American community.

 

That will be a day to celebrate, and we want to be clear that we won’t accept anything less. We’ll be challenging the homophobes who have hijacked our parade until Irish LGBT groups can march up Fifth Avenue behind a banner just like everyone else. Like our friends in Boston, we won’t be cutting any deals about leaving out words like “gay” or “lesbian” or “transgender.” We’ll join the parade as Irish lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, without reservation. And we’ll insist that the parade be open to all of Ireland’s diversity, from religion to color to culture.

 

Until that day, Irish Queers is here protesting the NYPD’s participation in this bigoted parade. We’re joined by groups of people of color, homeless folks, and queer youth – just a few of the New York communities made unsafe by biased policing. Commissioner Bratton’s disregard for LGBT New Yorkers at this parade tells all of our communities that anti-discrimination laws won’t protect us from the NYPD. We may have a new Mayor who’s interested in reform, but his police commissioner is bringing ugly back.

 

We need the Mayor to require Commission Bratton to do better on respectful policing, before more damage is done. It would be sad and embarrassing if the LGBT community had to sue the City to uphold its own anti-discrimination law, but we will if we have to.

 

We extend a special St. Patrick’s Day welcome to the queer community in Ireland, and the Irish government ministers and TDs who have firmly and publicly told the NYC parade organizers that homophobia isn’t Irish culture. Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Irish Queers.

 

###

 

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Sign petition to Commissioner Bratton!

The St. Patrick's Day parade is such a bastion of bias that the Mayor can't march, the City Council can't march, and sponsors are dropping out. So why on earth would the NYPD think it's okay to march? Commissioner Bratton refused to even acknowledge the issue until reporters prodded him. Then his only answer was "I have a gay sister." That doesn't cut it.

Please sign and SHARE this petition to Commissioner Bratton. He gets an email every time someone signs it, so step on up -- we can make 2014 the last year for NYPD homophobia on parade.

https://www.change.org/petitions/nypd-commissioner-bratton-the-nypd-doesn-t-have-a-free-speech-right-to-discriminate-pull-uniformed-nypd-contingents-out-of-the-religious-right-homophobic-st-patrick-s-day-parade

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Press release: LGBTQ & Policing Groups To Protest NYPD @ NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade

PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release

Contact: Emmaia Gelman (917) 517-3627

Date: March 14, 2014

LGBTQ Groups & Policing Groups Will Protest NYPD Contingents in Discriminatory St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Parade Committee claims “private, religious” exemption from NYC anti-discrimination ruling -- but City agencies don’t have “free speech right” to bypass anti-bias rules.

Pre-protest press conference: Monday 3/17, 10:30am (30 mins before parade). Between 56th & 57th Sts, west side of Fifth Ave.

New York – LGBTQ groups and allies plan to protest the large contingents of uniformed New York City police and firefighters marching in the antigay NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade this Monday, March 17. The parade’s unwavering homophobia has led Mayor de Blasio and the City Council to formally join the long-standing boycott this year.

Organizations will include Irish Queers, the Anti-Violence Project, Queer Nation, New Alternatives for LGBT Youth, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Brooklyn Lambda Independent Democrats, VOCAL-NY, JFREJ Campaign for Police Accountability, and others.

“The homophobic bigotry of this parade is reaffirmed each year by the organizers. The NYPD’s insistence on sending huge uniformed contingents every year, makes it clear that the rights of our communities don’t concern them. Commissioner Bratton hasn’t even acknowledged the community’s outrage. If the NYPD and the City refuses to uphold their own anti-bias rules, how can we trust police officers with our safety?” said JF Mulligan of Irish Queers.

The NYC Human Rights Commission found that the parade, as a public event, could not discriminate against LGBTQ people. However, a federal court granted parade organizers’ claim that the parade is not public, but actually a “private, religious procession.” Parade organizers say allowing gay Irish groups to march, or allowing individual marchers to identify themselves as LGBTQ, would contradict Catholic doctrine that opposes homosexuality.

The parade controversy has heated up this year with the Mayor’s announcement that he would boycott, with battles over draconian religious anti-gay legislation in Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi and Missouri.

“At a time when we are horrified by laws in Arizona and elsewhere that would deny public services to LGBTQ people, it’s particularly ironic that NYC would allow its police and firefighters to march in a parade that’s so notoriously homophobic,” said Alan Levine, attorney for Irish Queers.

“The parade organizers claim a right to discriminate, in private, in order to get around the Human Rights Commission’s anti-discrimination ruling. If the NYPD – a public agency – now claims its own ‘free speech right’ to join in that private, religious discrimination, we’re on a dangerous path that feels a lot like Arizona’s,” said Mulligan.

Irish ministers are also boycotting the Fifth Avenue parade, with the exception of the conservative Irish taoiseach (prime minister). The government has been bitterly split over his decision to attend. A coalition of Ireland’s top political parties, including the taoiseach’s own party, have published a video condemning the parade and refuting its connection to Irish culture. LGBTQ groups have published a letter calling on him to boycott. Web links follow.

###

For more information: http://irishqueers.blogspot.com

“In St. Pat’s Dispute, Free Speech is Not the Issue” Gay City News, 3/5/14

http://gaycitynews.com/tag/st-patricks-day-parade/

“New York mayor out of step with St Patrick's Day march over anti-gay ban: Bill de Blasio is the first New York mayor for 21 years to boycott the St Patrick's Day parade over its ban on gay participants – but is he doing enough?” The Guardian, 3/8/14

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/08/new-york-mayor-de-blasio-st-patricks-parade-gay-ban

“Why the Taoiseach should not join the St Patrick’s Day parade

Opinion: Our Irishness is pluralist and non-sectarian”, Irish Times, 3/11/14

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/why-the-taoiseach-should-not-join-the-st-patrick-s-day-parade-1.1719160?page=2

“New York St. Patrick’s parade no place for my child” IrishCentral.com, 3/12/14

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/politics/New-York-St-Patricks-parade-no-place-for-my-child-.html

“Irish parliamentarians support St Pats for All” 2/28/14

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDqxq1YgOhg

“Dear Enda” - Irish LGBTQ groups call on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to boycott or break antigay parade rules.

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2014/03/13/dear-enda-2/

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Protest NYPD homophobia 3/17 - keep the pressure on!

Join us in protesting at the 5th Ave St. Patrick's Day parade. 

Monday, March 17th, 10:30-12:30, between 56th & 57th St on the West side of 5th Ave

We'll have banners, hot beverages, and snacks. Please RSVP if you can, by clicking here!

This is a  peaceful but difficult protest, so it really helps to know if we can count on you to be there. Call (917) 517-3627 to reach us on the day of the protest.

Click here to sign the petition to Commissioner Bratton: demand that the NYPD & the City follow their own anti-discrimination policies, instead of trying to get around them with "free speech" arguments.

Commissioner Bratton and the NYPD must seriously grapple with their racism and homophobia. The St. Patrick's Day parade is one way to call attention to recent policies and unresponsiveness to NYC communities -- including policies that criminalize the homeless and continue racist policing tactics. 

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Gay City News challenges de Blasio: There's no NYPD "right" to homophobia

Is it wrong to crush out on your community newspaper?! Hope Gay City News doesn't mind, but we're pasting this one in its entirety.

In St. Pat’s Dispute, Free Speech is Not the Issue

BY PAUL SCHINDLER | If you work for a major bank or retailer or airline, it’s more likely than not that you have to get corporate approval before identifying yourself as an employee while participating in a public event. That sort of approval would typically be required, for example, if you and a group of fellow workers wanted to carry a banner with your employer’s logo on it in a parade.

In many cases, that’s not a problem. Corporations welcome opportunities for branding themselves in a wide array of public settings they view as favorable marketing opportunities. The annual LGBT Pride Parade down Fifth Avenue has, in fact, become a riot of corporate logos and colors, with runners stuffing branded tchotchkes into the hands of often unsuspecting spectators. Corporate America, for the most part, loves to create customer loyalty within the LGBT community.

Employers, however, won’t approve the use of their name or logo in every event. Employee groups would encounter trouble winning approval for identifying themselves at demonstrations over controversial issues — say, abortion rights — whether it was a pro-choice or an anti-choice message the event was promoting. Corporations see little downside today in standing with the gay community, but most see reproductive freedom as an issue that still splinters public opinion. There is no clear winner in that debate from the marketing perspective of most businesses.

Approval would almost certainly be denied if an event were widely deemed as unpopular or patently offensive. It’s hard to imagine any major business allowing its name to be used in a march promoting bigoted or racist views.

Nobody would argue that, in denying their employees the authority to use their corporate identification or logo in a public event, a company was impinging on the free speech rights of their workers. Employers likely — and rightly — have little or no ability to control the right of their workers, on their own time, to participate in even offensive public events, but they can certainly control what events their corporate names are drawn into.

All of this is relevant because Mayor Bill de Blasio, in saying city workers have the right to march in uniform in the discriminatory March 17 St. Patrick’s Day Parade and that he “absolutely respect[s]” the decision by Police Commissioner William Bratton to do the same, suggests that the right to free speech or free expression is somehow at issue here.

It’s not, and the mayor should know that.

“The NYPD has a strong interest in controlling the use of its symbols, including its uniform. When an officer marches in uniform with a particular group, the clearest message sent to the public is that the NYPD –– not the particular officer –– approves of that group.” –– 1999 brief filed by the City of New York in the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals

The right of the parade’s organizers to deny participation by openly LGBT groups — to discriminate against them — has been upheld by the US Supreme Court. The parade is deemed a private event — even if one facilitated by significant public safety resources — and so its organizers have the right to control its message.

The city, however, bound by its human rights law, does not have the right to lend its authority and stamp of approval to that discrimination. And it does have the right to determine when its workers can use their uniforms and other symbols of their employment in public settings.

The city, in fact, has made precisely that argument in a federal appeals court. In a 1999 brief filed with the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving police marching in uniform and with an identifying banner, the city argued, “As a quasi-military organization, the NYPD has a strong interest in controlling the use of its symbols, including its uniform. When an officer marches in uniform with a particular group, the clearest message sent to the public is that the NYPD — not the particular officer — approves of that group. If members insisted on the right to march in uniform with the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazi Party, the NYPD’s credibility with the community would be seriously undermined and its ability to perform its mission irreparably damaged.”

That’s the nut of the argument made by several hundred LGBT activists and their allies in a February 3 letter to de Blasio — that in co-signing the discriminatory practices of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, uniformed city employees, the bulk of them police officers and fire fighters, are compromising the clear message of equal treatment under the law that LGBT New Yorkers, like all their fellow citizens, deserve to hear.

De Blasio has been widely and rightly praised for being the first mayor since David Dinkins to refuse to himself march in the parade. It’s unfortunate, however, that he has chosen to obfuscate the bigger issue at hand. As mayor, he has the potential to forge an historic breakthrough in the city’s sad St. Patrick’s Day history by insisting that the parade organizers either end their bigoted practices or risk losing the colorful participation of uniformed police and firefighter contingents.

LGBT New Yorkers have the right to expect de Blasio to lead in this fashion. And they should also be able to hope that our new progressive mayor does not accord misplaced “respect” toward those who choose to join the narrow-minded crowd that controls Fifth Avenue on the 17th.

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