Five City Council members and several candidates announced they were withdrawing from the popular local event. Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan and council candidate Michelle Dillingham choose to march but protest the exclusion while marching.
They later claimed that they didn't want the parade to be in any way political. Of course they didn't ban politicians from marching in the parade. Why would they do that when the city funds the parade.
I wrote on Facebook before the parade: I respect those that that chose to march or not march today. I completely disagree with the decision to exclude GLSEN. They should march anyways. What are they going to do? Arrest you for marching in a parade? I agree with the idea of the city giving funds to GLSEN instead of the parade until they reverse the decision. People should be able to march and celebrate a holiday but they city should not financially support prejudice.
After this statement someone wrote in response: It is essentially a Catholic celebration is it not. Perhaps you don't see the subversive people in the background with their own agenda against the Irish.
As far as I am concerned any argument organizers had to try and discriminate against this group were lost when they accepted $10,000 in taxpayer-funded money from the City. I also stated that the decision to withhold the funds should be limited until they reverse the decision. While I want the parade to continue the city should not fund this event as doing so would be a violation of the 1st Amendent to the U.S. Constitution. The government can not legally support a religious event abridging the freedom of speech or interfering with the rights of citizens to peaceful assemble.
Someone having a different sexuality or belief than you is not subversive. As socially conservative as the hierarchy of the Catholic church may be I can not imagine that they would support bullying and be against safe schools. This is the agenda that you for some reason seem so afraid of? You are bullying those that are standing up against bullying? Do you think the man who hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors and told us to love one another as I have loved you would stand for this? The Inquisition is over. It is time to leave the 12th and enter the 21st Century.
