Stonewalled again, or Erin go brouhaha

This year’s award for embarrassing public behavior at the St. Paddy’s day parade goes to none other than parade chairman, John Dunleavy. I’m not sure how many green pints he had downed before offering this explanation of why an Irish lesbian & gay organization is always denied permission to march in the parade:

“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?”

And moreover, “If we let the [Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization] in, is it the Irish Prostitute Association next?”

There are two ways of analyzing the first statement. Perhaps he really means to compare gays and lesbians to nazis and the KKK. But I think not, and that his point is rather to make an analogy between two groups with opposing goals, like letting a pro-arsonist group march in the fireman’s parade. Unfortunately for Dunleavy, both interpretations are evidence of a troubled, confused mind. Assuming Dunleavy is not a huge fan of prostitutes, his second statement just seems to imply that he thinks gays and lesbians are, well like prostitutes, I guess. Which is funny considering how many politicians make a point of being seen marching every year. I wonder, did mayor Bloomberg have no misgivings about marching this year, given Dunleavey’s comments.


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