BOSTON: St. Patrick’s Parade Organizers To Reconsider Banning Of Gay Veterans Group After Backlash

The Associated Press reports:

The organizers of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade have scheduled an emergency meeting to reconsider their vote to bar a gay veterans group from participating. The vote Tuesday to bar OutVets drew immediate condemnation from high-profile politicians.

Ed Flynn, a member of the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, which organizes the parade scheduled for March 19, says the emergency meeting will take place Friday. Flynn voted to allow OutVets in. Members of the council and OutVets met Wednesday but could not resolve the impasse.

More from the Washington Post:



After its initial vote, the council did not provide a clear reason for excluding OutVets, according to a statement from the LGBTQ group. “Given the tenor of the council’s deliberations,” the statement read, “one can assume it’s because we are LGBTQ.”

But Bishop later told the Globe and other news outlets that it was consternation over OutVets’ logo, which features a small rainbow patch, that inspired the council’s rejection. Council members reportedly told Bishop that the rainbow imagery — a symbol of solidarity among LGBTQ advocates — violates the code of conduct because the council saw it as representative of gay sexuality.

Bishop was befuddled. “They said people felt that rainbows represent the gay community,” he told the New York Times. “I told them if that’s the case, then every picture of a rainbow in the parade that leads to a pot of gold needs to be removed.”