Sir, – The new Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, unlike his predecessors, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, will not march in this year's St Patrick's Day Parade because of the parade organisers' refusal to allow distinctly gay organisations, as opposed to individuals, to participate (Simon Carswell, World News, February 6th).
The parade committee regards the march, as well as the Mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral, which precedes the parade, as a celebration of the patron saint of both Ireland and the Archdiocese of New York. Their right to control what groups can march in it, as well as to assert the distinctly Catholic character of the event, has been confirmed by the United States Federal Courts. Gay organisations have several parades specifically labelled Gay Pride Parades and can also participate in at least one other distinctly Irish parade in the New York area.
To insist on their inclusion in the Fifth Avenue parade would be comparable to requiring Corpus Christi processions to allow distinctly gay contingents if being conducted on a public thoroughfare. – Yours, etc,
JOHN P McCARTHY, PhD,
Professor Emeritus of
History,
Fordham University,
New York, US.