REPORT: Mayor Bill De Blasio To Boycott New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade

Via Irish Central:

It appears New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will again boycott this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Fifth Avenue because of the lack of an Irish gay group in the line of march, multiple sources have told the Irish Voice. A non-Irish gay group from NBC, OUT@NBCUniversal, will march. On Tuesday, City Council Member Daniel Dromm of Queens confirmed to the Irish Voice that a majority of council members, including Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito, will not take part in the parade. The council formally boycotted and withdrew its banner from last year’s march in protest, and plans on doing the same for 2015, Dromm confirmed. “I won’t march until an Irish gay group can march,” Dromm told the Irish Voice. “And there will be no council banner in this year’s parade – of course there won’t,” he added. The decision by the parade committee to allow a gay group to march next month for the first time – OUT@NBCUniversal – came about for corporate reasons only, Dromm said. “It’s not acceptable to us,” Dromm added. “We’ve been struggling for 25 years to have an Irish gay group in the march and they still won’t allow us to march.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, this year's grand marshal, has expressed support for the inclusion of the one corporate LGBT group, earning him widespread scorn on right wing sites. When De Blasio boycotted last year, Bill Donohue was thrilled.

RELATED: The LGBT-inclusive St. Pat's For All Parade takes place in Queens on March 1st.