University Daily Kansan / Tuesdav, March 17. 1992
9
Gays barred from parade
Judge declines to overturn ban
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — A federal judge refused yesterday to order St. Patrick's Day parade organizers to accept a homosexual group in the event, but the gays said they would be on Fifth Avenue anyway — to demonstrate.
"We're not going to go away," said Paul O'Dwyer, representative for the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization. "We're going to keep fighting."
Members planned a symbolic march past the reviewing stand one hour before the 231st annual parade begins today.
"I think the entire lesbian and gay community is going to be coming out," he said.
The event, the world's largest parade to honor Ireland's patron saint, is sponsored by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. The Hibernians, a Catholic fraternal group, had threatened to call it off rather than let the homosexual organization march as a separate unit.
The Hibernians said letting gays march under their own banner would
be an affront to the Catholic Church's stance against homosexuality.
Police planned to have 300 to 400 more officers on duty today than last year — more than 3,000 in all, said Chief of Department David Scott.
"If in fact they want to demonstrate, we will attempt to accommodate them," he said of the gay group. "We have contingency plans depending on what transpires."
Police expect 2 million people to watch today's parade, but organizers said they were afraid rumors of disasters might keep some spectators away.
"ILGO had their day in court," said Kevin Marrinan, an attorney for the Hibernians. "We would hope that they'd abide by the judges' decisions and not try to ruin the parade."
Homosexuals allowed to march Sunday in Boston's parade under court order were given police escorts but were showered with cans and insults.
'homosexual group's last legal chance for getting into today's parade.
Leval said the group could not be bumped ahead of others on the parade waiting list, regardless of any alleged discrimination.
U. S. District Judge Pierre Leval apparently closed the New York
Unlike the Boston parade, the New York parade gets no direct government support, aside from services and traffic control and police protection.
On Friday, a judge for the city Human Rights Commission found the Hibernians had discriminated by placing the group on a waiting list with the intention of never letting it march. But she said the First Amendment gave the Hibernians the right to exclude the group.
An appeal of that decision was not expected for weeks. Clare O'Brien, an attorney for the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, said it would not appeal Leval's ruling. But the group still intends to go to trial to decide the question for future years, she added.
Mayor David Dinkins and about 20 other politicians have said they would boycott the march if the group were excluded. Dinkins will not march in the homosexuals' protest either, mayoral representative Leland Jones said.
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