An LGBTQ group marched for the first time under its own banner at Staten Island’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday in what organizers called a “huge day for the queer community.”
The parade — the last major local St. Paddy’s march to have an exclusionary ban on such groups — decided in November to allow the community-based Pride Center of Staten Island to partake in the annual event, now in its 61st year, according to SILive.
KC Hankins, a 32-year-old organizer in the queer community, was thrilled to see parade officials finally come around.
“After well over a decade of [denying] LGBT people marching in the parade, we are finally allowed,” Hankins said. “It’s a huge day for the queer community to be welcomed in our own community.
“This is a consistent effort by queer people on Staten Island to say we belong in our community, and we are going to continuously make it known that we belong.”
The parade stepped off at Forest Avenue and Hart Boulevard around 12:30 p.m., and spectators greeted the new participants with overwhelming cheers and applause.
“This is just a real win for this community … out here,” said Mayor Eric Adams, who marched with the group. “Just saying they’re prideful to be Irish, they’re prideful to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community — [it’s] something we always stood for.
“Their resiliency showed that if you stand up for what is right, you’re going to always win,” said Hizzoner — who was indicted on bribery charges last year and headed to trial till the Trump White House recently nixed the case against him, at least for now.
“Congratulations to all of them and what they’ve accomplished,” Adams said of the group’s inclusion Sunday.
The Staten Island parade has been the lone local anti-LGBTQ holdout for years. The Throggs Neck parade in The Bronx, for example, allowed organized members of the LGBTQ community to march under a banner starting in 2022, and Manhattan’s mammoth event began permitting them to participate down Fifth Avenue about seven years earlier.
The inclusion in Manhattan’s parade only came after massive protests that included Guinness pulling its sponsorship and NBC threatening to stop broadcasting the event until organizers changed their tune.
On Staten Island, the number of participating organizations had dwindled in recent years — likely the result of boycotts and frustration with officials’ anti-LGBTQ stance, said SILive.
Jody’s Club Forest, an Irish bar on Forest Avenue, put the brakes on its traditional political breakfast two years ago in solidarity with the excluded groups.
The November decision appears to have breathed new life into the faltering parade, as 80 groups signed up to walk this year — almost a third more than 2024.
On Sunday, Forest Avenue was packed with revelers as local officials crowded into tiny Jody’s, which counted among its Guinness-swilling patrons former GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, city Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker and Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon.
Edward Patterson, the new chair of the Richmond County St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, said he was “happy to have the Pride Center marching with us.
“Our focus remains on St. Patrick and the culture, traditions, history, and faith of the Irish people,” he said. “We’re proud to have the Pride Center because they are part of the community.”
Carol Bullock, the Pride Center’s executive director, told SILive beforehand, “We are excited.
“It’s really going to be great.”
But the lead-up was not without controversy.
A local Catholic leader made it clear he wasn’t onboard with the changes.
“When the decision was made to allow members of the Pride Center to participate in the parade, marching under their own banner, I had no choice but to distance the parish from the event and deny the use of the facilities,” wrote Bishop Peter Byrne of the Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church in a weekly bulletin last month.
“The Pride Center promotes ideas and practices that blatantly contradict the church’s teaching on chastity,” hesaid.
“That is an indisputable fact. [The Pride Center’s] presence in the parade signifies that the gathering not only does not promote, but actually undermines, Catholic devotion.”
Byrne banned the parade committee from using the parish as a sign-up spot for marchers, as it had in the past.
“I am not supporting the parade, therefore the facilities here will not be available,” he told SILive.
But even some of Byrne’s own parishioners disagreed with his views.
“As a long-time parishioner, I’m embarrassed by this statement,” a churchgoer told the outlet. “I have no words for how out of touch the bishop is with the community and his own parishioners.”
Another parishioner said, “The Jesus I grew up learning about would never write such a divisive letter and make such a judgmental and frankly, gross, statement.
“It is not Christ-like at all.”
On Sunday, parish priest Father Frank told The Post that the church still let people use the bathrooms during the event and that the disagreement had stemmed from the Church’s teachings.
“I hope they understand us also, because that is the stance of the church,” he said.
Some onlookers, such as 56-year-old Christine McCord, said she didn’t feel it “necessary” to have the banners fly during the parade.
“I guess it’s a good thing, because we’re moving forward and including everyone,” she said. “But I think it’s not necessary. We don’t need to segregate out who’s who and who’s what, because we’re supposed to be including everyone.”
Others said they were happy the group was allowed to walk.
“The parade was a beautiful celebration, and I am happy they finally let LGBTQ members march today!” another woman said. “They deserve it! It’s been a long time coming. Let’s go!”
