St. Patrick's Day is huge in quite a few cities, Chicago, Boston, Philly and definitely here in New York. What comes to mind first off is a drunken mess that mostly merry until who knows what happens, ending with hangovers galore. Unfortunately when it comes to the big parade, politics rears it's ugly head.
From The Empire Zone:
This year’s main parade controversy involves the decision of the parade’s planning chairman, John Dunleavy, to move the firefighters to the middle of the parade — from their place of honor in the front — reportedly because they held up the parade last year, and because they showed up drunk. If he doesn’t relent, Mr. Dunleavy could very well be facing the jeers of a boo coalition organized by a city councilman.
(snip)Last year, Mr. Dunleavy wouldn’t let the speaker — a lesbian — wear a pink pin when she marched, so she’s taking 80-year-old father and her partner, Kim Catullo, to a more inclusive parade in Dublin. The Intelligencer asked the 100 percent Irish speaker what she’d be wearing:
I’ll wear pins with the crossed flags of the U.S. and Ireland, an apple to symbolize New York City, and the symbol of the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization. I’m clearly going to be over-accessorized.
She adds that “the history of Ireland is a struggle for people to be who they are, and that I’m not going to march in a manner that denies who I am.”
Good for you Madame Speaker, never let anyone tell you what you are and what you can wear. Dunleavy might want to live in earlier, more restrictive times but this is 2007.
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