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De Blasio Undecided on Whether to March in St. Patrick's Day Parade

By Katie Honan | March 2, 2015 9:43am
 Mayor Bill De Blasio said he plans to be at the St. Patrick's Day parade in Rockaway but he's unsure about participating in the Fifth Avenue procession, which he said is still not fully inclusive.
Mayor Bill De Blasio said he plans to be at the St. Patrick's Day parade in Rockaway but he's unsure about participating in the Fifth Avenue procession, which he said is still not fully inclusive.
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DNAinfo/Katie Honan

WOODSIDE — Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday he hasn't decided if he'll march in the city's largest St. Patrick's Day parade — saying it has to be more inclusive, but he's willing to have additional discussions with organizers who have let only one LGBT group take part.

The group behind the annual St. Patrick's Day parade announced in September it would end a years-long ban on openly gay groups marching in the event. But only OUT@NBCUniversal — an LGBT group at the company that televises the parade — will march under its own banner.

And that's not enough, de Blasio said Sunday after marching in the St. Pat's for All parade in Sunnyside.

"At this moment, obviously, I've said I'm not ready to commit to marching because all we've heard is that one delegation related to NBC will be allowed to have members of the LGBT community  in it," he said.

"A lot of people feel, I think rightfully, that is too small a change to merit a lot of us participating who have wanted to see an inclusive parade."

He did not march in the parade last year because of its ban on openly LGBT groups, and also did not march as the public advocate.

De Blasio said he hopes there can be further discussions between now and March 17 that will open the parade up to more people, and applauded the St. Pat's for All parade for celebrating Irish heritage while remaining open to all marchers.

"I hope for some more progress with the parade in Manhattan, but there's still time, and we look forward to some additional discussion and certainly I welcome any discussions with anyone who wants to try and make it more inclusive," he said.

De Blasio said he will march in the parade on the Rockaway peninsula on March 7, which he skipped last year after mistakenly thinking the parade was not inclusive.

"That was an error on our part. It is inclusive," he said. "There was a misunderstanding, and I look forward to marching in it."

The parade's organizer, Michael Benn, said Monday morning he had "not yet" heard from the mayor's office but would check his email.