NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Many elected officials on Staten Island plan to boycott the borough’s St. Patrick’s Parade this year after organizers again banned LGBTQ groups from marching.
The annual St. Pat’s parade, which will take place on March 6, is the only one in the city that still bans LGBTQ groups from participating.
Richmond County District Attorney Michael McMahon and state Sen. Diane Savino told the New York Post they would boycott the parade as they have in years past.
McMahon said he’ll attend the parade but will only watch from the sidelines, not march.
“During the upcoming parade, I will proudly don my green attire; I will faithfully attend morning Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church; and I will joyfully join my co-hosts in welcoming all to our annual breakfast at Jody’s Club Forest, as I have done for decades,” McMahon said in a statement.
“Once again, however, I will dutifully watch and cheer on the parade from the sidelines,” he continued. “I believe this misguided decision is not done out of malice, but from a misunderstanding about what both this day and the Pride Center stand for.”
“It’s unfortunate that the organizers continue the ban,” Savino said. “They’re wrong.”
According to the Staten Island Advance, other elected leaders who said they wouldn't be marching include City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli, City Councilman David Carr, Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks, Assemblyman Mike Cusick and Assemblyman Charles Fall.
This year’s application to march in the parade notes participants can’t have so-called “sexual identification agendas.”
Boldface type on the application reads, “This parade is not to be used for and will not allow political or sexual identification agendas to be promoted.”
Carol Bullock, the executive director of the Pride Center of Staten Island, said she tried to apply for a fourth year and was denied. The applications of the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) and FDNY FireFlag/EMS were also declined.
“We can march in Boston. We can march in Dublin. We can march in Manhattan,” Bullock told 1010 WINS. “Staten Island is the only area that I’m aware of where we can’t, and I just don’t understand what makes Staten Island any different.”
Bullock said parade organizers have told her that her group goes “against the tenets of the Catholic Church.”
“I’ve asked them if they even know what the Pride Center of Staten Island does and have invited them to come here and see all the great work that we do,” Bullock said.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella will march in this year’s parade but has urged organizers at the Richmond County St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee to lift the ban.
“While I wish the parade organizers would reach a different decision, ultimately it is their decision, not the government’s,” Fossella told the Post. “There is still time before the event, and I encourage the parties to continue to meet in an effort to reach a resolution that will allow all Staten Islanders to celebrate together.”
The organizer of the parade, the Richmond County St. Patricks Day Parade Committee, could not be reached for comment.
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