St. Patrick's Day Parade Enters 21st Century Next Year

Better late than never!  Excellent news and kudos to Mayor de Blasio and the city council for doing the right thing.   It looks like Guinness and NBC added pressure after the pols took a stand this year, and in a couple of years even the opponents will wonder why the hell gays were ever excluded in the first place.

Since 1762, the Irish in New York have gathered on March 17 to celebrate their heritage and maybe drink some beer. Not welcome in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade down Fifth Avenue, however, were groups identifying as gay, because Catholics aren’t traditionally into that kind of thing. But following Bill de Blasio’s decision to sit out the parade this year — the first mayor to do so in two decades — to protest the organizers’ exclusionary practices, the next parade will finally enter the 21st century, allowing an LGBT group to march. It’s a step forward, sure, but it also appears to be about the money. Isn’t it always?

It's great day for for everybody, even spittle-flecked outrage machine Bill Donohue.