I was no longer living in New York by the time the fights over whether or not gay organizations would be allowed to participate in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade started breaking out. (The best summary of the whole sorry saga is Rob Carlson's song "God Loves The Irish", of which you can hear a brief sample here.) I hadn't heard much about this in recent years, so I wasn't aware that not only was this issue still unsettled, but that the head of the Order of Hibernians, who oversee the parade, has proven himself to be a pigheaded jerk in other related matters as well. Julia has the story, which as a part-Irish former New Yorker whose grandfather was a proud member of the FDNY makes me angry and embarrassed. Read it and weep.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on March 20, 2007 to National newsWait, the AOoH President, Dunleavy, who is generating all of this controversy doesn't live in NYC?
The effort to allow Irish-Americans to walk openly in the parade as gays and lesbians was going strong when I was in law school in the NY area. Like you, I was surprised to hear that this dispute was still going on. Unfortunately, it sounds like the AOoH, after having its rights as a private organization to exclude others upheld, is still aggressively exercising those rights. Looks like the AOoH is going to have to be reformed from within.
Posted by: Jeb on March 20, 2007 10:12 AMI thought it was a very interesting entry covering the topic very well...and then this swipe from Julia.
Mr. Giuliani, who has since age seven only been a new yorker when his job has required him to, is off for somewhere else to campaign for president standing on the dead shoulders of those firefighters.
I took issue with that on Julia's blog since Guiliani was born in NY, raised in NY, went to college and law school in NY, clerked in NY, was appointed US attorney in NY, served 2 terms as mayor of NYC. I noted that IMO that would make him much more of "new yorker" than say Robert Kennedy and Hillary Clinton both of whom had much less robust ties to the state before running for the Senate from New York and then launching their campaigns for the White House.
I was subsequently deleted and referenced with:
edit: I am reminded in comments that at one time Mr. Kennedy was our senator.
Nice, Julia. Never let those pesky little facts get in the way of a good slam.
Posted by: Patrick on March 20, 2007 3:51 PM