Gotta hand it to De Blasio (is that still the name he uses??), he's not as stupid as I thought.

Ordering first responders to stay away from the parade would've been career suicide, he was smart to ignore the haters who tried to get him to do so.

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All of what you just stated is 100% inaccurate. You're clearly an idiot. Ever watch New Girl? Probably not since it offends some aspect of your finely crafted sense of what's wrong and what's right about the world....BUT, there's a character named Schmidt on the show and every time he makes a douchebag statement he has to contribute money to a jar. There should be something like that for you on this board.

AND, BTW, i do not condone the St. Patty's day parade ban on homosexuals. I also have no plans of attending the parade.

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Anyone who calls someone else a bigot is a bigot. Your also intolerant of his view. Dumb@ss. Have fun, at the parade and wear sunscreen.

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Way to go, you're a bigot. I'd be worried that you spend too much time on this message board.

"closeted" gay Catholic clergy prohibiting openly gay lay people from a parade of drunks. Ironic at best.

Equal rights are not special rights. I'll always believe that anyone making even the slightest homophobic comments is probably gay.

Drunken fools who cry about their tiny penises. That's not to be missed!

De Blasio just saved himself from what would have been a TON of deserved booing from the crowd.

Bold move by DeBlasio and one that should be commended. There is no reason for those of Irish heritage, who faced very similar discrimination in the past, to go about discriminating.

@user1111 - You don't like people who work in offices? OH DEAR!!!So where do you conduct your business? Do you peddle out of a backpack or are you independently wealthy? Of course you are entitled to your own opinion even if it is exceedingly snarky.

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I worry that you'll work in an office, have children, celebrate wedding anniversaries. The world of the heterosexual is a sick and boring life. HA! Have fun.

Good I'm glad. Who wants him anyway?

I'm going to go with a sign saying I'm heterosexual and I need special rights. Give me a break.

JONATHAN LEMIRE | Associated Press

NEW YORK ? New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will not be marching in the nation?s largest St. Patrick?s Day parade, deciding to skip one of his city?s signature celebrations because the event organizers refuse to let participants carry pro-gay signs.
De Blasio will become the first mayor in decades to sit out the traditional march along Fifth Avenue.

?I will be participating in a number of other events to honor the Irish heritage of this city,? said de Blasio on Tuesday during an unrelated press conference at City Hall. ?But I simply disagree with the organizers of that parade.?

The parade, a tradition that predates the city itself, draws more than 1 million people each March 17 to line one of Manhattan?s most famous thoroughfares to watch about 200,000 participants. It has long been a mandatory stop on the city?s political trail, and will include marching bands, traditional Irish dancers and thousands of uniformed city workers.

Since the 1990s, the event?s ban on pro-gay signs and banners has spurred protests and litigation and led to the creation of an alternative, gay-friendly St. Patrick?s Day parade in Queens. In recent years, several elected officials ? including de Blasio when he was public advocate ? attended the inclusive parade and boycotted the traditional parade.

Though de Blasio?s predecessor, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was a staunch supporter of same-sex marriage rights, he still marched in the Fifth Avenue parade all 12 years he was in office. Rudolph Giuliani also participated every year he was mayor.
The parade dates from 1762, more than a century before the five boroughs linked to form modern New York City. It is run by a private organization, and judges have said the organizers have a First Amendment right to choose participants in their event.

Groups, such as colleges or firefighter groups that march, can identify themselves but LGBT groups cannot.

A request for comment from the New York City St. Patrick?s Day Parade committee was not immediately returned. Organizers have previously said that the event is simply a celebration of the city?s strong Irish heritage and that gays are welcome to march in the parade as long as they do not carry identifying signs or banners.

The mayor, a Democrat, also said Tuesday that he won?t heed activists? call to ban city workers from marching while wearing their uniforms.

Several elected officials, including Public Advocate Letitia James, signed a petition r eleased Tuesday that suggested that because members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community could not sport anything to identify themselves, the city workers should also not wear anything to proclaim who they are.

?I believe uniformed city workers have a right to participate if they choose to, and I respect that right,? de Blasio said.

Thousands of uniformed workers ? from the police, fire, corrections and sanitation departments ? march in the parade every year. The parade?s grand marshal this year is Jack Ahearn, the head of a local operating engineers union.