(New York City) There will be no pink shamrocks again this year at New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade. Members of the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization remain barred from taking part in the annual parade down Fifth Avenue.
As in past years gays will be relegated to a barricaded area along the route where will be allowed to protest against the Ancient Order of Hibernians which organizes the parade.
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City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is refusing to march in this year's parade. Quinn who is a lesbian and the second highest ranking city official, said she had considered marching this year, if she could do so openly.
The Order of Hibernians said no.
Also missing, for the second year in a row will be gubernatorial front-runner Eliot Spitzer. The Democratic attorney general, will attend a special mass, however, at St. Patrick's Cathedral for Mass.
His office said Spitzer won't be at the parade because he has a prior commitment in Buffalo. Irish groups have criticized his decision but it was welcomed by LGBT rights groups.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is running for reelection this year, will be marching. Clinton came under fire last month from the head of the state's largest LGBT civil rights organization.
I invite all ex-irishmen and women to sing along, to the tune of Macnamara's Band:
YOU CAN'T BE IRISH IF YOU'RE GAY
We'll be coming down Fifth Avenue upon St. Patty's Day
A great day for the Irish all across the U.S.A.
But begorrah, what is this I hear, this cry and ballyhoo?
There's a bunch of queers that are getting us scared that say they're Irish, too.
Oh, God loves the Irish unless of course, you're gay
He won't be wanting you marching upon St. Patty's Day.
You can be a bum, a bucket of scum, sure and that's okay.
But you can't be Irish if you're gay.
Now the Order of Hibernians, those eminences gray
Have delivered this pronouncement upon the Blessed Day
Sure, a little bit of heaven found nestled in the sea
But you're going straight to hell for homosexuality
Oh, God loves the Irish unless of course, you're gay
That was their pronouncement as the pipes began to play
You can be a con a mafia don we'll laugh it all away
But you can't be Irish if you're gay.
L-E-S-B-I-A-N and S spells lesbians
Choose another woman for to mate with
Divil a man can ever get a date with
L-E-S-B-I-A-N and S we say
It's a shame that these dames want to come out and march with us
Lesbians-no way!
Well Just as Cardinal O'Connor is bound to set us straight
It's boyos like the Kennedys that made this country great
We don't allow no Peter pan a wearin' of the Green
And when we say "Up the Irish", that isn't what we mean.
Oh, God loves the Irish as long as Men are Men
Except of course, for leprechauns we've never been sure of them
You can be a bum, a bucket of scum, sure and that's okay
But you can't be Irish
You can't be Irish
Don't dare to be Irish if you're gay
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