Organizers of New York City’s annual gay pride march, the culmination of New York’s Gay Pride week, announced today that they will allow Bill Donohue and his hate group The Catholic League to march with an anti-gay marriage banner and express their opposing view on same-sex marriage.
Donohue, who has openly compared incest to same-sex marriage, has been welcomed to participate in the June 29 event by march organizer David Studinski.
“His group’s presence affirms the need for this year’s pride theme, ‘We Have Won When We’re One,'” Studinski said in a statement. “Straight is great — as long as there’s no hate.”
As long as there’s no hate? The hell? Need we remind you again that national media outlets have already reported that Donohue plans to march with an anti-gay banner?
How about we take this to the next level?
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The news comes less than a week after the prohibition of LGBTs from St. Patrick’s Day parades in Boston and New York made national headlines. Major sponsors including Guinness and Sam Adams pulled out of the parades due to the exclusionary policies.
Frankly, Donohue’s inclusion in this historic event is a slap in the face to anyone who marched in the first Gay Pride march following the Stonewall riots — a march that symbolized the early advancement of the gay rights movement. It’s unnerving to see that, fifty years later, we’ve backpedaled to the point of welcoming our aggressors to take part in the festivities.
Update: Bill Donohue has released a statement explaining that he will not participate in this year’s march because he doesn’t want to attend mandatory information sessions:
For the past few days I have been engaged in an e-mail conversation with officials from the Heritage of Pride parade, New York’s annual gay event; the dialogue has been cordial. I asked to join the parade under a banner that would read, “Straight is Great.” The purpose of my request was to see just how far they would go without forcing me to abide by their rules. It didn’t take long before they did.
Today, I informed Heritage of Pride officials that I objected to their rule requiring me to attend gay training sessions, or what they call “information” sessions. “I don’t agree with your rule,” I said. They responded by saying that attendance was “mandatory.”
The St. Patrick’s Day parade has mandatory rules, too. It bars groups representing their own cause from marching, which is why pro-life Catholics—not just gays—are barred from participating under their own banner. But only gays complain: they refuse to abide by the rules. Indeed, they went into federal court seeking to force a rule change. They lost. In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that private parades have a First Amendment right to determine their own rules.
It is hypocritical for gay activists to complain about having to abide by the mandatory rules of the St. Patrick’s Day parade, and then inform me that I cannot march in their parade unless I respect their mandatory rules, rules that I reject.
Good luck to the Heritage of Pride participants. I may be watching it from afar, but I sure won’t be downing a Guinness afterwards.
Congratulations, NYC Pride. You’ve got your press.
Desert Boy
Well isn’t this just political correctness taken to the point of insanity.
Maybe the next Purim or Passover parade will allow an anti-Semitic skinhead group to join them?
Icebloo
I think it’s a great idea to let the haters into the parade. I think they will be very scared marching in front of all those gays shouting abuse at them. It will give them a taste of what we have had to endure for years.
Let’s see if this hate group actually participates or if they pull out of the event at the last minute.
DonW
Of course they should be allowed in — they’re all queers too, albeit self-hating ones.
SteveDenver
I think I’m going to apply for a street vendor permit and sell PIES. Something really creamy and sticky… sounds like a date to me!
macmantoo
I don’t trust them. I think they’ll pull out at the last minute and claim the Organization threatened them. Or they’ll invite a bunch of skinheads to join them.
TrickyPuck
I think it is a good decision to let them in, especially after the LGBT exclusion at St. Patrick’s day parades. It shows that we can take the high road.
dougmc92
he was just looking to call us hypocrits- he would have found some reason to back out- the coward!
hephaestion
We should all throw strands of beads at them as they pass by. I did that to some haters in the pride parade crowd once and it blew their minds. They kinda wanted to pick up the beads and it was hilarious seeing them wrestle with whether or not to pick up the gay beads being repeatedly tossed at them.
It was kind of like throwing love at them, and it blew their minds.
Ridpathos
I think it’s a great idea. Welcome everyone. Let them avoid the tomatoes if they can.
Desert Boy
I just heard via a phone call that hate group leader Bill Donahue threw a major hissy fit and backed out. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Guess he was afraid he would be pelted with raw eggs.
Evji108
They called his bluff and the dude totally chickened out. Too funny. What a lame jerk.
Ruhlmann
He’s in but he has to wear the assless chaps.
Caleb in SC
@Ruhlmann: I just vomited in my mouth a little. Have you seen this guy?
misterhollywood
Let them into the parade – it only high-lights the bigotry! Now that Matt Bomer appears to be out of a job since White Collar is getting cancelled, maybe he can be the Parade Lead?
(Our story on Bomer’s show getting cancelled is on our site. Click on my name to access).
Harley
No matter what the pride organization does, the wing nuts will fine fault in something. It’s a better not to play into them. Let them march. We are better then they are and everyone knows it. Jesus ran around with twelve men and a prostitute. He was more like us then them.
DarkZephyr
I don’t understand why Queerty is reporting this as an attempt by the NYC parade organizers for press. That isn’t what it is at all. As other posters have commented, they were calling Donahue’s bluff. Also showing that we LGBT people aren’t as closed minded as he is. Jesus Queerty.
enfilmigult
What is this
enfilmigult
Sorry, ignore that comment fragment. It was SUPPOSED to say:
What is this writeup? I was expecting glee over the parade calling his bluff—he was so obviously doing it so he could release a “see, they rejected us” statement after getting rejected, it’s hilarious that they said “sure, come on over.” But apparently the writer thinks…what, it was a grab for publicity combined with capitulation to the Catholic League? Sheesh. No offense but think a little harder about this stuff.
I’m not disappointed he backed out—also hilarious—but I am that he managed to find a flimsy excuse to accuse them of hypocrisy anyway, since that was what he was aiming for the entire time. Here’s hoping they release a nice long statement detailing that these information sessions contained such juicy gay training material as “show up on this street at 9:00 am.”
Desert Boy
The Catholic League’s Bill Donahue reportedly didn’t want to attend “gay training” – which means means sensitivity training mandated for all entrants.
Let this be a wake-up call for the silly queens in charge of NYC Pride.
enfilmigult
@Desert Boy: A wake-up call saying what?
Kieran
If Hollywood casting directors had wanted to conjure up an arrogant, smug, loud-mouth homophobic gasbag as a representative for Catholics, they couldn’t have done better than real-life Bill Donohue.
What damage this guy has done to the reputation of Catholics. No wonder the media loves to give him air time to portray Catholics as backward, narrow-minded and intolerant bigots. And for being the ugly face of Catholic homophobia in America, Donohue reportedly takes an estimated $400,000 annual salary from the Catholic League.
Matthew Tharrett
@Desert Boy: The “gay training” Donohue was referring to was not “sensitivity training,” as you say.
It was a mandatory information session that one person from each participating organization was required to attend. Not all that uncommon for an event like this.
HirsuteOne
Let him march. The banner was allegedly going to say “straight is great”/ Big deal. It’s of no consequence and allowing him to march only shows inclusivity and respect for freedom as opposed to his “ship ’em all to an island” stance.
Besides, he’s already backed out once he found out he would be allowed to march and thus couldn’t make a grand show about being rejected.
kevininbuffalo
Donahue = no balls.
Dawson
It was right to include him and right to make him go to a training session if EVERYONE ELSE is required to. Bill didn’t like that we call him on his bluff. He had to find some way out. How cleaver (not!) how it called it a “gay training session” without even going to it to find out. So he is basically not telling the truth. What a good Catholic.
So he is to be the exception and not required to follow the rules and then gets upset because he has to? He just tried to spin it his way when he found out we wouldn’t exclude him. Sorry Bill, we can see right through you and you just lost your argument didn’t you.
So now what is he going to say? That we included him but he doesn’t believe in following the rules everyone else has to follow?
Bill, you are still welcome but your lies are not.
What a coward.