Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Wacko’s Parade. March or No?

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Activists playing politics:

Don Gorton, longtime South Ender and chair of the Anti-Violence Project, said he does not expect the decision about whether or not to march would be a litmus test for LGBT voters in the mayoral race, but believes it will factor into their decision. Gorton said he is not yet formally supporting any candidate.

“The issue has symbolic importance. We’re being excluded from the St. Patrick’s Day parade as openly gay and lesbian people. We can march if we’re not open about it,” said Gorton. “And that’s a very offensive message. It tells us we’re wanted only in closets. I think Mayor Menino set a high standard when he decided not to march. I would hate to see a retreat from that high standard. … There is going to be discomfort with having the mayor or a mayoral candidate appearing in a parade that excludes gay people.”….

Bill Svetz, president of the Boston Gay Rights Fund and general manager at Fritz sports bar, as well as a Flaherty supporter, said he believes enough time has passed that few LGBT Bostonians are concerned about who marches in the parade.

-snip

“At this time I don’t think it matters to anyone who marches in the parade. At this point there’s only one person who runs that parade, Wacko Hurley, and we know who he is,” said Svetz.

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  2. I thought for sure the poses of all 6 cited would garner a snark or remark or five.

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    p>Should I have taken a side to get things going? Sorry. I don’t have one. What I thought noteworthy is that they each provided a quote that tried to have it both ways, even the activists.

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    p>Thanks to the folks who rec’d.

  3. This issue seems dead and buried but it’s still live. These pols need to answer to it when they march. Good for Menino, McCrea, and Sam Yoon.  

    • He’s easily the most bigoted, drunken, loudmouth I’ve ever met (and I’ve met a lot of them).  Makes Archie Bunker look slick.  I have a huge amount of respect for Mayor Menino for refusing to deal with him.  The other folks running would have been wise to follow the mayor’s lead. It’s not about LGBT rights per se, but about putting that mentality behind us.

  4. There is an effort in progressive veteran circles to end DADT:
    President Obama Should End DADT with the Stroke of a Pen
    Time to Repeal DADT

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    p>It should be noted, that when DADT is repealed, there will be tremendous pressure on Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) to support the policy of the modern American military.

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    p>That said, enjoy:

    It is a political quandary over an issue that has loomed over the annual event since 1995, when the US Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the parade organizers’ right to exclude gay groups from the parade. But the man most closely associated with the ban, John “Wacko” Hurley, who organizes the parade for the Allied War Veterans of South Boston, is stepping down from his post after this year. And that has some wondering whether the policy will end with his tenure.
    -snip

    Hurley said yesterday that the Allied War Veterans supports his position that allowing gay groups to participate is inappropriate for a family event.

    “This is the Allied council decision; I’m just the organizer for the parade,” said Hurley, who said he has been running the parade for 50 years. “When a group decides to come in that we don’t want, then we put on our boxing gloves.”

    But he said he does not know whether the group as a whole would continue to exclude gay groups after his tenure ends. “That’d be up to the body,” Hurley said. “I only have one vote.”

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    p>Quote of the article:

    Yoon said that he was given a spot at the back of the parade lineup last year after he sent Hurley a letter urging him to change the policy.

    “I was a little bit after the horses that pooped in front of me,” said Yoon, an at-large councilor.

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    p>

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