As an Gay Irish-American myself, I take such exclusion personally and I'm proud of those who are fighting such discrimination (in the case of publicly supported/funded events) or holding alternative, inclusive parades. As for Queerty, it may be for humor's sake (and I support that) but it's not all about a "day of drunken madness" - that's what non-Irish people do to St. Patrick's Day: Green beer and drunken coeds in tacky t-shirts featuring shamrocks over their nipples. For the rest of us, it's not even religious; it's about pride in our Irish heritage. And for a people that were once discriminated against as much as blacks in this country, you'd think some among us would pull our heads out of our asses and see just how similiar the situation is for GLBT.

Ahem, boys...."day of drunken madness"? Please. That stereotype is so tired. Last year one of the right wing fascists that organizes this parade said that there was no such thing as an Irish LGBT person, and compared LGBT folks to Nazis. This struggle is about fighting religious bigotry, and like Cullan says, the "day of drunken madness" sh*te is for Non-Irish American fools.

I just want all to know that St. Patrick was born in Scotland, therefore he's Scottish not Irish. The reason he was enslaved was for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In his lifetime he started over 200 hundred Bible-believeing churches, not Catholic churches, in which he baptized believers in Christ by immersion. In his confession, he never mentions Mary, the mass, pergatory, or the pope. What he DOES tell us is that anyone can go to heaven by putting their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. When he preached on the trinity-- God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit-- the people were not able to understand the concept of God being three distinct beings yet ONE God. Therefore he took a shamrock and showed them how it had three distinct leaves, yet it was still one. Anyway that is all I wanted to say... Take care :-)