The President of Ireland has turned down an invitation to be the Grand Marshal at the 250th St. Patrick’s Day march in NYC, because gays can’t march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade there.
I love this woman.
President Mary McAleese declines St. Patrick’s Day NYC Grand Marshal invite
Irish President Mary McAleese has turned down an invitation to be grand marshal of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade in 2011, the historic 250th anniversary of the event.The turn down is said to be connected to the issue of gays being refused the right to march in the parade under their own banners, and McAleese’s strong relationship with gay and lesbian organizations in Ireland.
As she will also be in the last year of her term in 2011, officials in the president’s office were reluctant to become embroiled in a major controversy about her taking part in the parade which has excluded gay organizations for over 20 years.
[…]
Despite a reputation as a conservative Catholic when she took office, McAleese has become a firm advocate for marginalized groups in Irish societies including gay groups.
She is very popular with such groups and was risking putting one of the signature accomplishments of her presidency at risk if she accepted the New York invite to lead the parade.
“This was a no win for McAleese,” said one official.
“Becoming embroiled in a huge controversy on Fifth Avenue on St. Patrick’s Day with gay groups protesting her presence is not what her legacy is all about.”
I still get goosebumps when I re-read the speech she gave to a forum of LGBT youth and youth workers working with LGBT teenagers that was held here in Galway back in October ’08, and had lgbt teenagers from all over Ireland attending it.
This is my favourite part of that speech:
The job that you are doing is about the business of creating a better world. An open world, a world free of homophobic bullying and bias. A world where people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, at whatever time of their lives they discover that about themselves that they can feel, ‘So what? So what? That’s the world. I live in a world where that’s everyday. Where nobody passes a remark on it. Nobody comments. This is how life is.’ I feel very strongly that what you are doing is such an important step by step by step growth, helping not just yourselves but actually at a much bigger level, helping all of us as community, as society, as Mums, dads, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, colleagues to one another to be a loving caring community. You’re helping us to grow and to go that journey.
So, thank you for your courage and thank you for going that journey and thank you in particular for growing that journey. Go raibh mile maith agat.– President Mary McAleese. October 2008
It still brings tears of pride to my eyes. <3 The full speech is equally fantastic. A lot of the youth in attendance were a bit glassy-eyed before her speech, as they'd been listening to a lot of speeches already. But they were all so rapt and engaged by her. She didn't speak about them, she spoke to them and she really has a fantastic understanding of what life is like for an LGBT person, so it's completely understandable that she would take the stance that she has regarding the NYC Paddy's day parade, and I applaud her, and thank her deeply for it.
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