This time of year, I usually do a countdown to the Solemn Feast of St Patrick- I strongly feel that holidays should be long-form celebrations rather than single day affairs. Today, the Borough of Queens held it's gay-friendly, "St. Pat's For All". The mayor has stated that he will not participate in the main St Patricks' Day parade because the parade does not allow LGBT people to march openly. In Manhattan, the old rules of determining Irishness still apply:
That's right, folks, you can't be Irish if you're gay... Oscar Wilde and Phil Chevron, no mind their literary and artistic merits, could not have been Irish in Manhattan- not according to the parade organizers.
The real truth of the matter is quite different, as the people in the pews do not necessarily agree with the clergy. Here's the heart of the matter, AOH bigwigs please take heed of the "bolded" section:
„„In 2003, all major religious groups opposed same-sex marriage, with the exception of the religiously unaffiliated. Today, there are major religious groups on both sides of the issue. Religiously unaffiliated Americans (73%), white mainline Protestants (62%), white Catholics (58%), and Hispanic Catholics (56%) all favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. A majority (83%) of Jewish Americans also favor legalizing same-sex marriage. Hispanic Protestants are divided; 46% favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry and 49% oppose. By contrast, nearly 7-in-10 (69%) white evangelical Protestants and nearly 6-in-10 (59%) black Protestants oppose same-sex marriage. Only 27% of white evangelical Protestants and 35% of black Protestants support same-sex marriage.
Sadly, these individuals don't seem to communicate among themselves, seeming to interpret each others' silence as tacit approval of the party line:
Roughly three-quarters (73%) of Catholics believe that most of their fellow congregants are opposed to same-sex marriage. However, Catholics who regularly attend church are in fact divided on the issue (50% favor, 45% oppose).
Speaking for myself, I sure hope that the mayor marches in the parade at sometime during his term.
Happy almost St. Paddy's Day!
ReplyDeleteLet's hope the world doesn't blow up first.
~
I kissed a gay Irish policeman once!.
ReplyDeleteThree times!
ReplyDeleteAnd he kissed me back!
ReplyDeleteWe used to celebrate a month long festal event that we called "St. Guinness MONTH" from Feb 17 till Mar 17. The founder of Guinness Brewery WAS a freaking saint, he paid his workers a good wage and took care of health issues for them. IIRC, he provided housing if necessary.
ReplyDeleteBeing of the pagan sort, a "snake" one can only assume that Patrick would have driven OUT of Ireland --- tho' I am not all that much Irish, to my knowledge; I feel no need to celebrate his preachy ass at all.