Boston St Patrick’s Day parade organisers to take action against Pride group

The organisers of Boston’s St Patrick’s Day parade have warned that they will take action against gay pride marchers who carried multicoloured umbrellas during the annual event.

The commander of the South Boston veterans group Brian Mahoney has hit out at Boston Pride for carrying the rainbow coloured umbrellas to make a political statement, allegedly violating terms they had agreed to. Mahoney, who is editor of the South Boston Today, shared his views in an opinion piece in his paper.

“It was shocking and unauthorized… when they appeared at G (Street) and Broadway carrying 10-12 multicolored umbrellas that I would describe as rainbow even though I have been told they ‘technically’ were not rainbow,” he explained.

“Well, how’s this — umbrellas of any sort are not allowed. We can all play word games but again we’re running a celebratory event not a protest or social movement. In any event we review tapes of the parade for improvements and violations and will take action where appropriate.”

Mahoney said that “a million details” had been dealt with by organisers who had “innocently believed” the group to be an “off-shoot of ‘Boston Strong'”, which was set up following the 2013 marathon attacks.

“Any report that the Council voted on or even saw the application is either a misquote or complete fabrication.

“I was assured numerous times by those in this unit, who enforce the rules of the gay pride parade, that they would respect ours. I spoke again with this unit on the Kelly Bridge, inspected their banner, flags and two rainbow banners with a pot of gold and leprechauns and found no violation.”

Congressman Stephen Lynch described the commander’s article as “unfortunate”, adding that he had been “happy” to have the OUTVETs group march alongside himself and others for the first time.

“I think they were warmly received, I think that they were gracious in their own way, and I think it was a completely positive event and I don’t want anything now to take away from that,” he said, before joking: “I had an umbrella, too, myself. Mine was green.

“I’m not running the parade but I thought as a spectator and a participant, I thought it was entirely appropriate, I thought they carried themselves well, and I would be proud to have them march again.”

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