The Catholic League applauded the decision of the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council to cancel the St. Patrick’s Day parade rather than submit to a court order allowing homosexual activists to march as a separate unit. The League’s Boston office director C. Joseph Doyle called the decision an “act of courage, principle and integrity.”
The decision to cancel the parade was made after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld a lower court decision which held that the parade was a “public accommodation.”
The Catholic League, which filed an amicus brief in the case in support of the Veterans Council, blasted the court’s decision.
Catholic League president William A. Donohue stated that the ruling brought to a head “the war that homosexual militants have been waging against Catholics and the Catholic Church.”
Donohue went on to accuse the homosexual militants of lying to achieve their end. “It is a patent lie … to say that homosexuals have been excluded from marching in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It is well-known that homosexuals have long marched in every St. Patrick’s Day Parade from Boston to San Francisco. But when gays marched, they did so by marching with their parish or association, and did not try to make a public display of their lifestyle.” He went on to note, “The reason why Irish Catholics don’t want a homosexual contingent to march as a group has everything to do with their religious beliefs and their First Amendment rights. Homosexuality, like adultery, incest and bestiality, is viewed by Catholics, as well as millions of others, as morally wrong. That is why they object when attempts are made to hijack their festivities for ends they do not support.”
Catholic League General Counsel Andrew J. McCauley indicated that an appeal to the United States federal courts on First Amendment religious freedom grounds was being considered. (See page 12 for a commentary on the Massachusetts decision by McCauley).- JP
