NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — A new St. Patrick’s Day parade, which will welcome LGBTQ+ groups to participate, will take place on Staten Island this March in celebration of Irish heritage.
The new parade will be held on Forest Avenue on March 17, two weeks after the annual parade organized by the parade committee of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
In a controversial stance, the order has continued to exclude LGBTQ+ groups on the basis of Catholic teachings. A similar ban was lifted from the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan in 2014.
According to the Advance/SILive.com, which has covered the controversy extensively by means of an advocacy project launched last year, “The Staten Island event is likely one of the only St.
Patrick’s parades left in the world to continue to exclude LGBTQ+ groups from marching under their own banners.”
The Staten Island Business Outreach Center applied for a permit to have the second, inclusive parade, and City Hall confirmed that the event will be moving forward.
“From day one, Mayor Adams has been clear that celebrations in our city should be welcoming and inclusive,” Kayla Mamelak, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams, said. “That is why we are thrilled to be collaborating with the Staten Island Business Outreach Center for their first-ever St Patrick’s Day parade this year where everyone interested – regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, race, or beliefs – will be welcome to march together.”
Adams has declined to participate in the longstanding St. Patrick’s Day parade on Staten Island due to the exclusion of LGBTQ groups, but has a history of attending inclusive events in the borough. According to the Advance, Adams marched down Forest Avenue alongside the Pride Center of Staten Island and its banner during the 2023 pre-parade Rainbow Run.
The Forest Avenue BID has already reached out to the Pride Center to request their participation, and Executive Director Carol Bullock told 1010 WINS/WCBS 880 that the organization will be accepting the offer.
“The most exciting thing for me is for us to march down Forest Avenue, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with our banner,” Bullock said. “We’re a really amazing community center here on Staten Island that does amazing work and really just wants to celebrate, like many of the other organizations that will be marching that day.”
The business outreach center, a community development nonprofit, said in a statement to the New York Times that the new parade is a “revamped tradition” that will “not only enhance the vibrancy of our community but also serve as a shining example of unity for the entire city.”
With federal courts ruling that organizers have first amendment rights that protect their ability to decide who marches in a parade, and Adams continuing to provide public funds by means of police protection and sanitation services to the event, the second parade is an alternative way for the community to incorporate its LGBTQ+ neighbors.
“I think it just shows that the community supports having a parade that is longstanding in tradition and represents everybody in the Staten Island community,” Bullock told 1010 WINS/WCBS 880. “So I felt a lot of support, and this just fills my heart. I think there’s a lot of community members throughout the years who have wanted us to be able to participate”