Manton's St. Patrick's Day Message to Quinn
Here is recent footage of Christine Quinn last week discussing the late Queens Democratic County Leader Tom Manton and how she wanted to march with him in New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade, but didn't.
"On last St. Patrick's Day I had really hoped that Tom, my father and I would get to march together and it didn't work out. And I was so afraid that I was going to disappoint Tom. And I was really sick over it and I just felt terrible over that it didn't work out."
But later, according to Quinn, Manton told her he was fully in favor of her decision to skip the main St. Patrick's Day parade, whose organizers objected to the participation of self-identified gay groups, and told her to "give 'em hell."
This year's St. Patrick's Day parade is Saturday. Quinn is planning to skip it and march in a parade in Dublin instead.
-- Azi Paybarah
Good for Christine, and God bless Tom Manton. The Speaker's marching in the Dublin parade is a brilliant move -- like all best political theatre, it speaks for itself, and it speaks volumes about the Ancient Order of Hibernators and their outdated, bigoted ways!
Why does the City continue to grant permits to an organization that is bigotted? And couldn't the City council pass legislation to ban permits from organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc.? To what extent would first amendment law come into play? And couldn't there be another Irish group that gets the permit for this parade?
I think the Supreme Court has already weighed in on these and other questions by a 9-0 vote (in a case involving Boston's St. Patty's Day Parade with virtually identical issues). But I'm no lawyer.
It is hard to believe that it is constitutional to deny anti-war protesters the right to march where they want to march but unconstitutional to deny a permit to the Ancient Order of Hibernians to march on 5th Avenue on March 17th every year. I say give a permit to another, more inclusive, Irish group for 5th Avenue and let the Hibernians march on 11th Avenue or wherever. Let them take the city to court, at least the LGBT community would know that right thinking people in high positions are with them, instead of giving lip service to equality, and are willing to fight as hard as they can to stop discrimination.
Gabriel Byrne was there too!
yo
yo!
oh please tom manton hated gays for years and now late in life he supports them? puleease
They may have a right to hold a parade -- but there are many groups that apply for permits to March down 5th avenue and are denied. Time, place and manner restrictions have been upheld by the Supreme Court repeatedly -- they have a right to speak, but not necessarily at the location they want most. The Hurley decision was fairly limited in scope and related to Massachusetts' public accommodation laws. There were a host of issues that the plaintiffs chose not to litigate. I doubt that the Hibernians have a Constitutional right to march on 5th avenue every March 17. And in Hurley, there was no organization filing a competing request for a permit. I wonder what would happen if one of the organizers of a competing St. Pat's Day Parade, say the inclusive Queens parade, were to ask for a permit for March 17 at 11 am. Why wouldn't it be okay for the City to choose the inclusive group over the exclusive group?
I recall that when Dinkins was Mayor he tried to do something about this. I don't remember if he tried to prevent them from running the march or if was to order them to be inclusive or something else. He was sued by AOH who prevailed in court.
From the NY Times Feb 13, 1993, "the Dinkins administration, in early January, passed over the Hibernians' annual application and gave the permit for this year's parade to a new group formed by allies of the Mayor who had pledged to let the gay group march...But the Hibernians and other Irish groups threatened a boycott. The new sponsor, fearing that the boycott would cripple the parade, gave up and handed the permit back to the city Thursday afternoon." In other words, they couldn't face up to a showdown. It's not clear that the legal argument would have failed -- the political realities got in the way. 14 years have passed -- have those political realities changed?
I am sure there was also was a court case.
3:41, manton died last year, that's why quinn is free to talk about her wishes about marching with him. if he were alive, she would not have dared.
There were several court cases in NYC, but all became mooted by events. Hurley was the Boston case, and it is silent on the question of two competing permit seekers or other time place and manner restrictions.