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Posted: 3/17/06 at 11:24pm
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The man in charge of Manhattan's St. Patrick's Day parade has fueled a controversy by saying allowing a gay group to join Friday's march would be like permitting neo-Nazis to participate in an Israeli parade.
In an interview with The Irish Times, parade committee chairman John Dunleavy defended the organizers' decision to bar the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization from participating in the biggest St. Patrick's Day party in the world.
"If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow neo-Nazis into their parade? If African-Americans are marching in Harlem, do they have to let the Ku Klux Klan into their parade?" Dunleavy was quoted as saying.
"People have rights. If we let the ILGO in, is it the Irish Prostitute Association next?" he said....
The gay rights campaigners' cause has been taken up this year by newly elected City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the first openly gay woman to lead the council and an Irish American.
She boycotted the Manhattan march after failing to persuade organizers to lift their veto. Quoted in The Daily News, she condemned Dunleavy's comments, saying: "They are so outrageous, I don't even think they dignify a response."
NY St. Pat's chairman compares gays to neo-Nazis
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The man in charge of Manhattan's St. Patrick's Day parade has fueled a controversy by saying allowing a gay group to join Friday's march would be like permitting neo-Nazis to participate in an Israeli parade.
In an interview with The Irish Times, parade committee chairman John Dunleavy defended the organizers' decision to bar the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization from participating in the biggest St. Patrick's Day party in the world.
"If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow neo-Nazis into their parade? If African-Americans are marching in Harlem, do they have to let the Ku Klux Klan into their parade?" Dunleavy was quoted as saying.
"People have rights. If we let the ILGO in, is it the Irish Prostitute Association next?" he said....
The gay rights campaigners' cause has been taken up this year by newly elected City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the first openly gay woman to lead the council and an Irish American.
She boycotted the Manhattan march after failing to persuade organizers to lift their veto. Quoted in The Daily News, she condemned Dunleavy's comments, saying: "They are so outrageous, I don't even think they dignify a response."
NY St. Pat's chairman compares gays to neo-Nazis
