It Will Be a Gay Day for the Irish

February is over, March comes in like a snow beast and St. Patrick's Day cometh on the 17th, two days after the Ides. My friends and I long ago dubbed the day "Straight Pride Day" because it has a parade, revelers, big bar scene, souvenir street vendors and the event organizers still refuse to let openly gay groups participate in the parade.

Well, this year, New York City finally refused to be a part of this discriminatory practice. Previous mayors have marched on St Patty's but the City's new Mayor, Bill de Blasio (who took office in January) will break with tradition and skip Manhattan's St. Patrick's Day parade, the nation's largest. "I will be participating in a number of other events to honor the Irish heritage of this city," de Blasio said during a press conference earlier this month. "But I simply disagree with the organizers of that parade."

Four days later, NYC's City Council joined in the official boycott. According to Colin Campbell at Politicker:  "Citing the parade’s exclusion of openly gay participants, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s office said today that 'there will be no official City Council presence at the parade, no banner and no Sergeant–at-Arms present.'

“'Individual Council Members can still be able to participate if they wish,' the office noted."

Not far up the East Coast, Boston's mayor, Martin Walsh (the son of Irish immigrants) announced he, too, will boycott his city's St. Patrick's Day parade unless organizers allow gay military veterans to march.

Since the 1990s, the Manhattan parade (a tradition that began in 1762) has had its bigoted policy protested and has been subject to anti-discriminatory lawsuits. Drawing over a million people each year and about 200,000 participants, its exclusionary rules led to a separate, gay-friendly St. Patrick's Day parade in Queens. Some elected city officials -- including de Blasio -- chose to march in the Queens parade while boycotting the one in Manhattan.

Remember, St Patty's organizers for Manhattan, the half-Irish-American Buddy O'Beaverhausen says: the pot o' gold lies somewhere under the rainbow.

By the way, in Ireland, due to St Patty's Day's status as a Roman Catholic holiday, it is commonly celebrated by churchgoing. The religious restrictions on drinking during Lent are lifted for the day but many pubs are closed because of the holiday. March to that in March!

religious restrictions on drinking alcohol during Lent that are normally in place are lifted for the day - See more at: http://www.irish-expressions.com/saint-patrick-day.html#sthash.w3QImpXh.dpuf

religious restrictions on drinking alcohol during Lent that are normally in place are lifted for the day - See more at: http://www.irish-expressions.com/saint-patrick-day.html#sthash.w3QImpXh.dpuf

religious restrictions on drinking alcohol during Lent that are normally in place are lifted for the day - See more at: http://www.irish-expressions.com/saint-patrick-day.html#sthash.w3QImpXh.dpuf

A Gigantic Win for NYC

Bill de Blasio is the first Democrat  to serve as the mayor of New York City since David Dinkins, defeating Republican Joe Lhota, a longtime adviser to former mayor Rudy Giuliani. It was a landslide victory by 73 percent to 24 percent. (Hey, Lhota! Is the big L on your head for your last name or does the scarlet letter now stand for big Loser?)

Of Blasio: "His landslide victory, stretching from the working-class precincts of central Brooklyn to the suburban streets of southeast Queens, amounted to a forceful rejection of the hard-nosed, business-minded style of governance that reigned at City Hall for the past two decades and a sharp leftward turn for the nation’s largest metropolis," wrote The New York Times.

LGBT people rejoice! This is great news for civil rights in this city, in general. And I congratulate Blasio for his historic win!

Jon Stewart, who is 5'6" (my height) noted this win means "greatest incumbent-successor size discrepancy in the history of swearing-in ceremonies" as 6'5" Bill de Blasio supplants 5'6" Mike Bloomberg.

Fran Leibowitz commented: I think it's very important that we don't ever have a mayor this rich or this short. The richness comes from the shortness, this is what I believe. I believe every single person suffers for what happens to boys on playgrounds. So I really believe that a short boy gets bullied by taller boys, or ignored by them, or doesn't have the same status as they do, they grow up, they get very rich, to kind of get back at these tall boys, and then everyone suffers for this. I like de Blasio for many reasons, but his height is very important.

Napoleon Complex? I understand completely. Now let's give Goliath a chance. Bill de Blasio, let's go!