Gays Get Sidelined for St. Patty's Parade for 18th Year

For 18 years the Ancient Order of Hibernians which organizes the parade has barred Irish gay groups from marching.

At 57th Street, a small group of Irish American gays and lesbians staged a quiet protest. But among the hundreds of thousands who lined the streets they were virtually invisible.

The Hibernians claim the parade is a private, religious procession in order to to justify keeping LGBT groups out.

In the early 1990s, the parade committee used the argument to defeat a discrimination claim brought by the NYC Human Rights Commission.

A federal judge ruled that the organization could bar the gay group on the grounds of religious freedom.

The New York parade is the nation’s largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, but gays are also rejected at marches in other cities, including Boston.