Margaret R Gilroy
Editor in Chief
St. Patrick’s Day Parade lifts ban on gay groups
For the first time in its history, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City will allow gay groups to march under their own banner. The organizers of the parade made the announcement on Sept. 3 that they lifted a ban on openly gay groups, resolving more than two decades of controversy. This March, they will welcome OUT@NBCUniversal — a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender support group for NBC employees — as the first gay organization to march in the parade.
In previous years, members of the queer community were allowed to march, but only within other groups and not under their own banner identifying them as queer. The standard dates back to the parade’s origin more than 250 years ago, in 1762, when it was decided that the parade was to begin with with a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral — the country’s most distinguished Catholic church. The policy banning gay groups from marching was set by gay rights advocates as a product of the church’s ideals.
The decision to allow gay groups is a reflection of the evolution of gay rights in New York City and in American society, as well as the change in attitudes in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the 2015 grand marshal, says that he has confidence in parade organizers and supports their decision.
“My predecessors and I have always left decisions on who would march to the organizers of the individual parades,” Dolan said at a press conference announcing the decision last month. “As I do each year, I look forward to celebrating Mass in honor of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and the patron saint of this archdiocese, to begin the feast, and pray that the parade would continue to be a source of unity for all of us.”
Parade organizers say gay groups can still apply to march in next year’s parade, but that space is tight. There are already 320 groups set to march on Saint Patrick’s day 2015.
International Olympic Committee adds anti-discrimination clause to Olympic host city contract
After a large public outcry regarding impeachment on gay rights at the Sochi Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee has added an anti-discrimination clause to its host city contract.
On June 29, 2013, just eight months before the games, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a discriminatory bill that classified the exposure of “non-traditional” sexuality relationships to minors as propaganda, making it illegal in his country. He did say that gays were welcome in Russia and at the Olympics, but only if they “leave the kids alone.”
In response, the IOC sent a letter to the three candidates for the 2022 Winter Games — Olso, Beijing; Almaty, Kazakhstan; and Beijing — presenting the new wording of the contract to include “non-discrimination.” The updated clause doesn’t tolerate “any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise.”
International LGBT group All Out commended the IOC, saying it was a big step in promoting equality.
“This is a significant step in ensuring the protection of both citizens and athletes around the world and sends a clear message to future host cities that human rights violations, including those against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, will not be tolerated,” said Andre Bands, co-founder and executive director of All Out, in a press release. “We will continue working to make sure this change is powerfully enforced — these new rules must prevent a replay of Sochi.”
The IOC’s amendment to the Olympic host city contract is pressuring other international sporting bodies. The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar, a country that considers homosexuality illegal.
Facebook amends real-names policy, issues apology to drag queens after suspending profiles
Facebook is loosening enforcement on its “real-names” policy after taking heat for deleting over 200 profiles of drag queens using pseudonyms.
It was early September when the social network started suspending profile pages of individuals in drag, claiming they violated the policy, which prohibits the use of “any name other than your legal name” for what it says are safety reasons. It accepts legal names from a user’s credit card, driver’s license or student ID, and although the site does say that an “alternate name” is acceptable when it is a “maiden name, nickname or professional name,” there’s no mention of a “stage name.”
Sister Roma and Lil Miss Hot Mess are two drag queens from San Fransisco who were subjects of the discrimination. They retaliated and staged a protest that was quickly backed by a large gay activist Facebook community; Facebook responded and agreed to hold a meeting late last month.
At the meeting, the drag queens explained that they wanted Facebook to change its rules; they felt that the real-names policy put their safety at risk and jeopardized their rights. Facebook issued an apology to the drag community shortly after, saying it was straying from its policy to accept solely legal names — it would now accept what the company called “authentic” names, or the name a user goes by in day-to-day life.
In a Facebook post, Chris Cox, Facebook’s chief product officer, wrote, “I want to apologize to the affected community of drag queens, drag kings, transgender and extensive community of our friends, neighbors and members of the LGBT community for the hardship that we’ve put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts over the past few weeks … the spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life.”