Staten Island holds first inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade

STATEN ISLAND - Staten Island held its first inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday after excluding the LGBTQ community for years.

The parade started at noon on Hart Boulevard and Forest Avenue and will end on Broadway. 

The parade was hosted by the Staten Island Business Outreach Center.

"It’s not New York. So, I'm very moved to be here after years of arrests, of protests, of efforts. Its activists and good decent New Yorkers who made today happen," Fay said.

And Fay was one of those activists, who has pushed Staten Island for decades, to open up the registration of its Saint Patrick's parade to the gay and lesbian community. But organizers argued the parade was a religious one, and LGBTQ lifestyles conflicted with the teachings of the Catholic church, preventing groups like Staten Island Pride Center from taking part. It is the leaders of the Forest Avenue Business Improvement District who decided 2024 was the year to end exclusion and host a separate, second, Saint Patrick’s Day parade on Forest Avenue, from Hart Boulevard through Broadway.

RELATED: Staten Island's St. Patrick's Day Parade leaves out LGBTQ+ groups

"Love is love," a parade-goer said. 

"I know there's some pressure on the left and the right and it gets into politics but ultimately it’s about celebrating," another said.

While Ireland is considered more inclusive of the LGBTQ participation in Saint Patrick’s Day parades, Irish Americans, especially in Staten Island, have tended to be more conservative. Even now, during Sunday's milestone, gay and lesbian participants say this inclusive parade is just a baby step, pointing to the rule that marchers are still not allowed to unfurl their large pride flags on the route.

"Rules are rules, and like she said, we are going to take baby steps. But we are going to stay on the sidewalk, and we are going to do our flag and be proud and wear what we can and hopefully by next year the mayor, they'll say, let’s do it," a parade-goer who identifies as LGBTQ said. "Because we're proud to be Irish and proud to be gay as well."

The New York City Saint Patricks Day Parade along on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, March 17, 2018. (Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The first Staten Island St. Patrick's Day Parade was held on March 2.

For years, The Pride Center of Staten Island and the Gay Officers Action League tried signing up to participate but were denied. 

In the past, gay, lesbian, and transgender New Yorkers could walk in the parade – just not under their own banner.

One year the parade application read in bold letters: "THE PARADE IS NOT TO BE USED FOR AND WILL NOT ALLOW POLITICAL OR SEXUAL IDENTIFICATION AGENDAS TO BE PROMOTED."

The Staten Island Bsuiness Outreach Center claimed they didn't want sexual identification or political agendas to be promoted in these kinds of events.

News of the inclusive parade was announced in February in collaboration with Mayor Eric Adams.