New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade

Due to the storm, I missed participating in the protest at the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City. I was supposed to meet up with friends visiting from California for the weekend but those plans went to hell in a hand basket. I sent them over to the queer group so I can say I protested by proxy.

A good recap can be found over at the Joe.My.God blog.

The parade in Dublin — that's right, Dublin IRELAND — was welcoming of all sorts of diversity including the GLBT community. It seems that the New York parade, which has successfully defended its right to ban gay participation in the courts, is really a parade celebrating Catholicism and not Irish descent.

My great grandfather, Malachi O'Shaughnessy, was the first generation Irish-American in my family tree. Family lore has it that he died in a bar fight. How utterly stereotypical! I don't know if it's actually true or not, but it makes for a colorful story.
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