Donate to Hate - More lies from the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee

The Irish Echo recently ran an article about how the NYC St. Patrick's Day Committee "needs a helping hand" and is launching an online donation drive. Like every other nonprofit on the planet, the parade committee is bracing itself for a decrease in donations due to the economy.

But in true AOH fashion, the committee is using manipulation and lies in its plea for donations for their annual procession of religious bigotry. They claim the parade is completely funded by individuals, or as they say in their fundraising letter, "completely funded by donations from generous people just like you." This is not entirely true. In a 2007 article published by the Irish Examiner USA, John Dunleavy bragged about the parade committee's links to corporations:

Dunleavy credits his good friend, the late Jim Barker, for bringing in sponsorship for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, which costs between $600,000 - $700,000 to run annually. The figure includes $300,000 for the TV air time, $23,000 for the reviewing stands on Fifth Avenue, as well as permits, sashes, port-o-potties, painting the green line up Fifth Avenue, and other expenses. Until a few years ago, Dunleavy ran the whole operation out of his home. The committee now has a small office in the Bronx and hired an administrative assistant to handle things as the parade continues to increase in size.

"Jim was a master salesman, a modern day PT Barnum," Dunleavy said. "A number of years ago, WPIX-TV, which had broadcast the parade for 35 years, cut back the hours because they couldn't sell the ads. We decided to switch to WNBC-TV, which made it easier to sell the sponsorships. We buy the time, hire our own producer, Mike Mathies, and control the content. Major supporters include Quinnipiac University, Guinness, and Ford Motor Company."

"Jim went to Villanova with Jim O'Connor, an executive at Ford. The Guinness sponsorship is a natural one," Dunleavy explained. "We are fortunate that Frank Comerford, president of WNBC, is on the board of the St. Parade's Parade Committee. In order to get work done, you need a combination of Irish and Irish Americans."

So what is really going on here? Buying air time? Selling sponsorships? It's hard to tell. According to the parade committee's 2007 990, they raised $96,265 in direct public support (translation: from generous homophobic people like you, including foundations and corporations). They raised $388,000 in indirect public support (translation: from other organizations like colleges, AOH chapters and Catholic churches).

In addition to the sponsors mentioned by Dunleavy to the Irish Examiner, other corporate sponsors of the parade include: Yonkers Raceway, CelticBrands.com, The Padded Wagon, Turtle Wax, and US Bank Irish Connections Visa Card.

During the last decade, the parade has had its financial integrity questioned by both AOH insiders and outsiders. In 2001, the New York Times ran an article on William J. Flynn's resignation as president from the parade committee. One of the main reasons mentioned in the article for his resignation were around financial transparency. In 2002, former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer investigated the parade committee's finances. It was alleged that the late Jim Barker and his public relations firm accepted payments from the Ford auto company for parade advertising instead of making payments to the nonprofit entity.

To top it all off, the fundraising plea on one of the parade committee's websites mentions that the city "offers no financial subsidies to the Parade despite the fact that the City take (sic) in millions of dollars in tax revenue from Parade participants."

Well AOH folks, this is the price you pay for having a private, religious procession down Fifth Avenue (a public space) on March 17th. We still have a separation between church and state, and the City has anti-discrimination laws, so your discriminatory event should not be entitled to any financial subsidies.

With the passing of Proposition 8 in California, much attention is being paid to the Mormon Church and other groups that invested so heavily in homophobia. This ridiculous fundraising plea in the Irish Echo has re-reminded us to step up following the homophobic money floating around the Irish American community sponsoring this discriminatory parade.

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New AOH President Against Coalition Building for Immigration Reform

Remember AOH President Jack Meehan and his pledge to ramp up the AOH's anti-choice efforts? He just got voted out at the AOH convention in New Orleans at the end of July. The new AOH president, Seamus Boyle of Philadelphia, has pledged to make immigration reform the main focus of his presidency. Below is a snippet of an interview he gave to IrishPhiladelphia.com:

Q. Do you feel like the Irish need to work with other immigrant groups to achieve reform? I mean, fundamentally, this is not an Irish issue so much as an immigrant issue, is it? Can we really achieve any progress on Irish immigration without finding common cause with, say, Latin American or Asian groups?

A. I think that the Irish have more to offer than some of the other groups and I do not mean to degrade any nationality. The Irish have a head start on other groups because the have a tremendous work ethic, great education and speak English, and that is an advantage for employers. We as Irish are not looking for anything except to be treated fairly.

Sounds pretty racist from over here, Seamus. If you don't mean to degrade any nationality, why are you implying non-Irish immigrants don't have a strong work ethic, are not well educated, and don't speak English? Seamus Boyle and the modern day AOH have much more in common with nativists than they'd like to think, that's for sure.

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AOH to Irish Queers: "You can march in body bags."

(photo by Maggie M. Koopmans)

The protest site was marked by tension between demonstrators, who at times chanted, "Racist, sexist, anti-gay, NYPD go away," and uniformed police and firemen marching, who by and large conveyed either condescension or outright hostility.

One fireman from New Jersey shouted "fag" at the protesters, then scurried into the middle of his contingent when pursued by this reporter for his name.

A member of the AOH contingent in the parade was more frank in his hostility."You can march," he said, "in body bags."

This snippet comes from Bigotry on Parade, Again by Andy Humm in Gay City News.

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From Gay City News...

St. Pat's Politics in Queens, Manhattan

By: ANDY HUMM, 2/28/2008

The Irish parade season kicks off this Sunday, March 2, with the inclusive Queens St. Patrick's Day Parade led by grand marshals Christine Quinn, the out lesbian speaker of the City Council, and writer Pete Hamill. It starts at 2 p.m. at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue (#7 train to 40th St./Lowery) and winds up at 61st Street and Woodside. For more information, go to www.stpatsforall.com.

The Manhattan St. Patrick's Day Parade on Fifth Avenue on March 17 will be protested once again by Irish Queers with an action along the route at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, starting at 11 a.m. The parade, controlled by the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), has refused Irish LGBT groups the chance to participate with their banners since the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, now defunct, applied in 1991. Then-Mayor David Dinkins let ILGO march with him that year. The gay marchers and the mayor were pelted with bottles and other abuse and ILGO and other openly LGBT groups have since been totally excluded.

Most major Democratic politicians, except for New York's two US senators, have honored a boycott of the Fifth Avenue parade. Quinn, who was arrested several times in protests against the exclusion but - like almost all elected officials - has not joined the picket in recent years, tried to broker a way for Irish LGBT folk to march when she first became speaker, but was decisively rebuffed. Her effort involved allowing marchers to participate with identifying gay sashes and buttons, a compromise approach Emmaia Gelman of Irish Queers rejects, saying anything less than being allowed to march behind a banner would not do. "We're not going to be downgraded," Gelman said.

On the "Gay USA" TV show I co-host with Ann Northrop, Quinn, several weeks ago, said, "I'm going to keep fighting and keep boycotting until we can get past this." While she conceded she was not optimistic about a change under the current AOH leadership, she said, "When you talk to the leadership of these organizations one step below - the next round of folks who are going to take over - when they're in charge we'll get beyond this."

Gelman said, "We can't have a committee decide who is Irish."

In a release, Irish Queers called on Quinn to "stop giving cover to politicians who ignore the boycott - Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and Michael Bloomberg among them - by standing with them everywhere but on Fifth Avenue and glossing over their decision to support religious-right homophobes."

Irish Queers wrote Quinn about their concerns and said that in her emailed response she reiterated her commitment not to march, but did not respond to the issues they raised.

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'Tis the St. Patrick's Day season.......

.....and Irish Queers are shaking things up for the 17th year in a row. Here is our latest Press Advisory:

As Council Speaker Quinn fades out of challenge to NYC St. Patrick’s parade, Irish Queers press her for commitments

Irish Queers submitted a request for clarification to NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn last week (excerpts below) charging the Speaker with wooing both sides of the St. Patrick’s Day parade issue – both Irish and other gay activists, and conservative and church-linked Irish American power brokers. The letter requested that Speaker Quinn make clear her position on the parade, its organizers, and her willingness to provide meaningful support to progressive sectors of the NYC Irish community who oppose the religious right, and homophobia.

Speaker Quinn has not replied to Irish Queers with any commitments of support, nor any answers to questions about her activities in the Irish American community – although on Gay USA, a national cable television program, she claimed last week that she didn’t know she was joining NYC Parade Committee chair John Dunleavy for a posed photograph at a United Irish County Associations dinner.

Irish Queers plans to protest the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade, which explicitly excludes Irish LGBT people unless they remain closeted. In the last decade, the Parade Committee has transformed the march into a 'religious procession' and has re-branded itself to include an anti-gay message. The protest will take place at 57th Street and 5th Avenue, beginning at 11am on March 17th.

[Our letter to Christine Quinn from February 19, 2008]

…You’ve stood with us in the past, but in the last few years we’ve seen you wooing both conservative Irish American figures and the LGBT community, showing each a different face. In 2006, we saw you attempting to strike a deal with parade organizers without talking to groups organizing against the parade’s homophobia. In 2007, we saw you marching in Dublin and talking about queer rights, yet we don’t see you at home talking about queer rights in front of the Irish American community… we’ve seen you support the NYPD without making any challenge to violent, politicized policing of queers and others. We heard you entertain the idea of inviting Ian Paisley, renowned racist and homophobe, to lead the NYC parade. So far in 2008, we’ve seen you mingling with anti-gay parade organizer John Dunleavy, and retreating from progressives in the LGBT community. We know you’re planning to join in the inclusive Queens parade, but we also know you’re aware that the eyes of the world – and the Irish community – are on Fifth Avenue.
…

Redelineate the boycott on the NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade. Stop giving cover to politicians who ignore the boycott – Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Michael Bloomberg among them – by standing with them everywhere but on Fifth Avenue and glossing over their decision to support religious-right homophobes. Don’t photo-op with the NYC St. Patrick’s Parade Committee and other supporters of the parade as if they’re lovely people who just happen to run an annual anti-gay public spectacle. Say out loud that those who march in the parade are joining in an event whose message is explicitly anti-gay, and hold them to account for their actions.

Demand that the city stop participating in the parade. Tell other city officials that they must not march – and if they do, impose political consequences on them. If cops and firefighters want to march, tell them they shouldn’t be representing the city in uniform.

Support the Irish queers and progressives who are doing this work. Stop being somewhere else on the day of the parade – turn up on the picket line. Don’t stand in for Irish queers in discourse about the parade with politicians, media, business groups and others. Instead, support grassroots voices to be heard by encouraging people to talk to Irish queers and progressives themselves.

Show that Irish queers are an integral part of the New York Irish community. Actively include secular Irish queers in official City Council celebrations of Irish community. Create opportunities for Irish New York to support and celebrate the accomplishments of Irish queers; don’t tack us on as an afterthought.

Don’t undermine queers and progressives in Ireland. Don’t stand with unrepentant bigots like Ian Paisley and propose that their targets – whether queers, Catholics or Irish republicans – should embrace those who attack us.

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News of Irish & Queer Interest...

Check out this story of transphobia, Catholic-style. I love it how Bill Donohue frames everything like he (& other Catholics) are the victims. As if!

The Irish American community in NY doesn't want to admit that Irish LGBT people exist, but over in Ireland, a new survey reports that 3 out of 4 Irish people believe the morning-after pill should be available from a pharmacist without a prescription. In December, the Irish Times quoted a poll stating that "79 per cent of Irish Catholic adults oppose church teaching prohibiting the use of condoms for any reason, including the prevention of HIV and AIDS." Just more proof that the Catholic vision of Ireland that the AOH wants to preserve simply does not exist any more.

An Irish homophobe in Boston *actually* makes an apology for being an "instrument of bigotry and prejudice." How often does that ever happen?

A teenager was recently in a Dublin court to answer for charges that he attacked a straight couple last year because he thought she was "a gay man because of her hairstyle." (Yes, this is a true story.)

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AOH: Keep Your Bigotry Out of My Uterus & Off Fifth Ave

I am writing in response to the January 3rd article by April Drew detailing the "new agenda" for the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

I am disgusted by the paternalistic language used by Jack Meehan to describe "those women" and their "problem pregnancies" and/or "difficult choices." It almost seems like he's judging women, as if women get pregnant all by themselves. As an Irish American woman that grew up in a Catholic family, I am fully capable of making my own
decisions, and do not need an all-men's fraternal organization telling me what to do with my life or my body.

I'd also like to point out that in September 2007, the Irish Times published an article stating that 54% of women in Ireland are in favor of legalizing abortion. In America, why does the AOH keep trying to preserve a vision of a holy Catholic Ireland that doesn't exist any more?

I also wanted to speak to the not-so-discreet reference to the AOH's standoff with the Irish Queers (presently) and the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization (in the '90s) over marching in the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade ("those who would rob St. Patrick's Day of its true meaning"). I find it insulting that Meehan and John Dunleavy, who in the past compared Irish LGBT people to Nazis and the KKK, try to paint Irish LGBT people as anti-Irish like the Know-Nothings etc. WE ARE IRISH! Just because we refuse to live our lives in the closet does not make us un-Irish. Irishness should not hinge upon being a picture perfect, holier-than-thou Catholic.

The AOH is an organization that cloaks its bigotry in religion, and this renewed focus on abortion demonstrates that once again.

Tierney Gleason
Co-Organizer, Irish Queers
Brooklyn, NY

Here's the article:

AOH to Focus on Abortion
January 3, 2008

By April Drew

ANCIENT Order of Hibernian (AOH) President Jack Meehan has set in motion a new agenda for the Irish American Catholic organization to promote and defend the life of the unborn child.

In a letter written to over 300 divisions of the AOH and its members on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs or December 28, Meehan reminded members of the crux of the AOH’s duties.

“The core missions of the Hibernians remain — a free and united Ireland and support for the teachings of the Catholic Church,” he said.

Now that Northern Ireland will be celebrating 10 years of peace, Meehan said the AOH’s focus would change onto an area of greater needs — to protect the life of the unborn child.

Michael Cummings, archivist of the AOH, told the Irish Voice on Wednesday that the new efforts to protect the life of the unborn would be primarily focused on education.

“What we want to do is to demonstrate that we can provide support and resources for those women who are faced with problem pregnancies or with difficult choices, and hopefully defend the right of the unborn by giving the practical assistance that those women need,” he elaborated.

Speaking about taking a step back from Northern Ireland issues, Cummings said, “We have a lot of confidence in the leadership in Ireland, that they are on the right path. We are examining each of the areas we have been involved in to date and see where we might redirect some energies, efforts and resources.”

Meehan’s letter had the same sentiment. “ We must re-energize ourselves to fight the scourge of abortion in the same steadfast manner that we have used to fight the many injustices wreaked upon Catholic/Nationalists in the North of Ireland,” he wrote.

According to Meehan, a native of Brighton, Massachusetts, the AOH, which is in its 173rd year, has tolerated and suffered through years of oppression and hardship.

“In the past we endured the tyranny of robber barons in the coalfields of Pennsylvania, stood fast against the bigotry and violence of the Know-Nothing’s in New York City, Charlestown and Philadelphia, challenged those who would rob St. Patrick’s Day of its true meaning, and defied all those who called us terrorists for advocating equality and justice for Catholics in the North of Ireland,” he wrote.

To this end, Meehan writes that it’s time to stand up again, but this time focus on the “sacredness of all creation.” This, he suggests to AOH members should “guide our direction in the future.”

Meehan explains in depth areas he would like his members to consider expanding in order to be pro active in pursuing their new agenda. He urges the support, both practical and material, to expectant mothers in pregnancy crisis centers, and he suggests assisting efforts of religious leaders and organizations to “inform and activate their flock.”

He also wants to purchase educational material about the subject for schools. Meehan hopes to add to the AOH’s existing Hibernian Charity program donations to the Sisters of Life, a religious order founded by our Brother Hibernian and JFK Memorial Medal recipient, the late John Cardinal O’Connor.

Concluding his letter quoting Pope John Paul II Meehan wrote, “Abortion, as Vatican II affirmed, is one of the abominable crimes. To attack unborn life is to attack the whole moral order.

“The defense of unborn life is part of the defense of human rights and human dignity. Please consider these words of the Pope in your response to the program initiatives I have suggested.”

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