Gays versus Irish

Published Mar 17 2006, 06:42 PM by Adam Reilly

Am I missing something?

This week, a Weekly Dig piece on Wacko Hurley--the head of the South Boston veterans' organization that runs Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade--included a mysterious quote. Referring, apparently, to the 1995 US Supreme Court decision that said the South Boston Allied War Veterans' Council could exclude organized groups of gay and lesbian marchers, Hurley said this: "One of the judges made the comparison: If the NAACP had a parade, do you think they'd want the KKK in?"

Ponder that for a moment.

Now turn your attention to today's New York Times story on controversy around that city's SPD festivities. Christine Quinn--a lesbian who's speaker of the NY City Council--wanted to march in New York's SPD Parade with gay supporters, and while wearing a gay-pride pin. No dice. As parade chairman John Dunleavy explained to the Irish Times, "If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow neo-Nazis into their parade? If African-Americans are marching in Harlem, do they have to let the Ku Klux Klan into their parade?"

???

I've looked at some clips on the 1995 Supreme Court decision, and I can't find any comment like the one Hurley remembers. Maybe one of the justices said that; maybe none did. Whatever. What's truly perplexing is the conviction, among a certain segment of Irish Americans, that gay people are out to fuck them up.

If anyone can explain, that would be super.