Irish Republican Socialist Party
10 March 2002
Solidarity with the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organisation
As the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organisation (ILGO) prepares to face
exclusion from the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade for the
12th consecutive year, the International Department of the Irish
Republican Socialist Party issued a statement expressing its
solidarity with ILGO and denouncing the "sectarian and heterosexist
policies" of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) which have caused
ILGO to be banned.
A spokesperson for the IRSP said:
"The IRSP are appalled that for the twelfth year in a row, the
largest St. Patrick's Day parade in America will refuse to allow a
group of Irish women and men to demonstrate their pride in their
homeland. This parade is intended to be an opportunity for the Irish
in the Diaspora to reclaim their pride in their heritage as Irish
women and men. The purpose of this parade is to draw together the
many different parts of the Irish emigre community in the US, but the
AOH thinks that it is the ultimate arbiter of who does and does not
deserve the honour of marching with the many other Irish
organisations in the parade.
"Religious sectarianism, whether coming from the loyalist thugs or
from the Roman Catholic reactionary wing of the AOH is something that
all Irish activists must oppose. Those who support human rights,
civil rights, and the democratic separation of Church and State, must
protest this imposition of Catholic dictates as a criteria for the
use of the tax-payer financed public streets of New York. We in the
IRSP reiterate our insistence that religion is a private matter and
only advancing a secular approach to matters of public property can
protect the civil liberties of our citizens and the citizens of
New York.
"IRSP also condemn the blatant heterosexist discrimination underlying
this outrageous ban. It is the height of irony that lesbians and gays
will again march in this year's St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin,
Ireland; but some group of Irish-Americans, cut off from their roots,
will again set itself up as the judges of all things Irish?"
In conclusion, the IRSP spokesperson said:
"Given this reactionary and undemocratic ban of ILGO from the New
York City parade again, the IRSP declare that the place for all
progressive Irish republican and socialist activists in New York to
be on St. Patrick's Day is not marching in the parade, nor is it in
applauding from the sidelines. The place for such activists is
standing with the members of ILGO, demonstrating their solidarity
with them and protesting the continuance of the ban. If the AOH and
the Catholic Church want to control who can walk on the streets of
New York City, they should also be prepared to pay for the upkeep of
the streets along the course of the parade route. So long as it is
the people of New York who pay for these public thoroughfares,
however, the Church and its sectarian friends should get out of the
way.
"The Irish people are Catholic, Protestant, Dissenters, and Atheists.
They are lesbians, gay men, straight women and men, and bisexuals.
The Irish people are an increasingly diverse populace and they are a
people who clearly are fast outpacing their Irish-American cousins,
such as those in the New York City AOH, in their cosmopolitanism and
open-mindedness."
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Republican Socialist Publicity Bureau
392 Falls Road, Belfast, BT48 6DH, Ireland
Tel: 028 90 321024 Fax: 028 90 330786
Republican Socialist Press Office
4 Cavendish Row, Dublin 1, Ireland
Tel/Fax No: 01 8735620
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
IRSM Website: http://www.irsm.org/irsm.html
IRSM Statements: http://www.irsm.org/statements/
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