de Blasio Irish
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny (2nd L) sits with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (3rd R) during a service at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York March 17, 2014. Last week New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would not march in the Manhattan St. Patrick's Day parade because gay and lesbian activists had been again precluded from taking part. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

The decades-old squabble over LGBT participation in St. Patrick’s day parades has two major liberal players that appear to be changing the tide. Last year, Bill de Blasio became the first New York mayor in over two decades to skip the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, when snubbed the celebration over a long-standing policy against displays of LGBT pride.

“I simply disagree with the organizers of that parade in their exclusion of some individuals in this city,” he said in a news conference last year.

De Blasio, who is of Italian heritage, was joined in his dissent by Irish-American Boston mayor Marty Walsh, who also refused to participate in his city’s discriminatory parade.

"As mayor of the city of Boston, I have to do my best to ensure that all Bostonians are free to participate fully in the civic life of our city, he said in a statement in 2014.

St. Patricks Day organizers in both cities quietly took the hint. In 2015, they have allowed limited participation of LGBT groups. In Boston, the gay and lesbian group OutVets received permission from the parade’s organizers, The Allied War Veteran's Council. In New York, organizers of the Fifth Avenue parade invited a single LGBT group, but de Blasio said that it wasn’t enough

"We need something more for it to really feel like we've turned the corner," he said on Sunday. "A lot of people feel — I think, rightfully — that that is too small a change to merit a lot of us participating." He added that he believed there was still more time for organizers to invite more groups. His aides said that he’d likely change his mind if that happened.

Meanwhile, In Boston, at least one Catholic group pulled out of the parade because of the inclusion of OutVets. The group, a marching band from the The Immaculate Heart of Mary School, was recalled by its leaders after hearing the news.

"We can't associate with that,” Brother Thomas Dalton, principle of Immaculate Heart of Mary School, said in a phone interview with Reuters. "It would appear we were condoning it."

The Catholic Action League supported the school, in a statement.

“This [is a] valiant example of unflinching devotion to Catholic Faith and morals,” said the group. The statement criticized more tolerant Catholics who “conform to the culture” instead of acting “defense of their Catholic principles.”

As Tyler Lopez pointed out in an article last year, none of this is an issue in Ireland, where LGBT floats are regularly features in St. Patrick’s day parades. Like in America, the holiday is more about getting plastered than riding an island of snakes. In the same note, the League argued that St. Patrick’s Day is not even a religious holiday, and that the name should be changed. Perhaps Patty’s Day revelers should skip parades all together, make like Barack Obama, and head to the pub.

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