New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade got a little bit more inclusive today.
Actually, a lot more inclusive. For the first time in the parade’s history, a gay group was allowed to march in the parade. Members of Out@NBCUniversal, the company’s gay employee group, marched in this morning’s parade.
Organizers of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade have come under fire in recent years for preventing LGBT groups from marching. And while the organization has yet to lift its ban on gay groups, this year’s parade is the first sign that things might be evolving.
Still, one gay group — Irish Queers — boycotted the parade and New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio again skipped the parade over the non-inclusive policy.
He told New York's Daily News that allowing one corporate group to march is not enough progress.
"I'm not ready to commit to marching, because all we've heard is that one delegation related to NBC will be allowed to have members of the LGBT community in it," de Blasio told the NY Daily News. "A lot of people feel, I think rightfully, that that is too small a change to merit a lot of us participating who have wanted to see an inclusive parade."
Instead, de Blasio participated in a gay-friendly parade in Sunnyside, Queens on March 1.
