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IRISH LESBIANS AND GAYS: "WE'LL NEVER CEDE OUR RIGHTS"

On March 1 the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization issued a 
statement denouncing a court ruling barring the group from
marching in New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade March 17. ILGO
spokespeople called on supporters to boycott the parade and
instead take part in a "March Against Bigots" starting at 9 a.m.
St. Patrick's Day.

Excerpts from the ILGO statement follow.

In fighting our effort to take part in the Irish community's 
largest single event ... the Ancient Order of Hibernians has
tossed away the parade's two centuries of historical tradition
and perverted its purpose. It is no longer the well known public 
celebration of Irish pride in our shared history and culture.

Instead, the AOH has redefined the St. Patrick's Day Parade 
entirely as a demonstration of homophobia. AOH lawyer Ernest 
Matthews told Judge Duffy that the parade's 'message is one of 
exclusion,' and AOH representatives [said] the parade would be 'a
celebration of the victory of traditional Catholic values over 
homosexuals'.

In the process of opposing ILGO, moreover, an AOH lawyer proudly 
claimed in court, 'We're as good as the Klan.' We find it 

outrageous that an organization claiming to represent New York's 
Irish has chosen to wear the cloth of the Ku Klux Klan and the 
American Nazi Party ...

The first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City, in 1762, was
organized in part by Protestants as a public show of protest 
against discrimination based on ethnicity and religious 
belief--what we today call `civil rights violations'. Over time, 
the parade has grown to include different groups that were 
traditionally excluded: women in the early part of this century, 
African Americans in the 1960s.

Lesbians and gay men of all races and ethnicities now insist on 
that same simple right: participation in our ethnic communities
and their events on equal terms with everyone else.

We have been saddened that the public face of the Irish in New
York has become one of hatred, bigotry and segregation. And we
are angered at the complete lack of support from our community's 
so-called 'leaders,' not one of whom has publicly said that 
anti-gay bigotry is wrong. In an ethnic group with our history of
civil rights struggle, their silence in the face ofour struggle
is disgraceful.

We Irish are a diverse community, and we have many important
issues and complex challenges to face. ... The Irish community

extends far beyond the Ancient Order of Hibernians and its
invited parade participants. We are confident that we will march
one day, for we are Irish lesbians and gay men, and we shall
never cede our right to be part of our community.

                               -30-

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted 
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; via e-mail: ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org or
workers@mcimail.com.)


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