The president of the Catholic League is challenging the organizers of the parade to include him after LGBT activists protested the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade for barring LGBT participants with pride flags and banners.
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Via youtube.com
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League and a vocal opponent of LGBT rights, said Wednesday he wants to march in the 2014 New York City Pride Parade under a banner reading, "Straight is great."
Donohue made the remarks during an interview with conservative talk show host Steve Malzberg, in which he criticized activists for protesting bans on LGBT groups marching in the New York and Boston St. Patrick's Day parades and corporate sponsors that withdrew their support of the events over the policies.
"Are they going to let me do it or not? I'm waiting to see what they want to say," Donohue said, explaining the pride parade organizers require participants to carry LGBT signs. "All right, you can disagree with their rules, but that's their parade. Why don't they respect us when it comes to the St. Patrick's Day Parade?"
When reached by phone Wednesday night, organizers of the parade at Heritage of Pride Inc. said Donohue had not yet filled out a formal application to participate in the parade and that his request was made by email.
Britton Hogge, the organization's operations manager, told BuzzFeed a decision has not yet been made on permitting Donohue to march under the banner he proposed, but that they "will be issuing a statement probably sometime tomorrow," he said.
This year's major St. Patrick's Day parades in New York and Boston were marked by the withdrawal of corporate sponsors and both the cities' mayors refusal to participate or march in the parades due to the ban on LGBT groups. In New York, Guinness dropped its sponsorship less than a day before the parade kicked off Monday morning.
In response, Donohue called for a boycott of the sponsors, including Guinness, Sam Adams, and Heineken.
The annual parade, which draws hundreds of thousands, will take place June 29.
h/t Towleroad
