Mayor Bill de Blasio marched in a gay-friendly St. Patrick’s Day parade in Queens Sunday — but said he still supported his police commissioner’s decision to participate in the traditional Manhattan celebration that bars homosexual groups.
“I absolutely respect his decision,” the mayor said of Police Commissioner William Bratton. “We have to respect everyone’s individuality and their right to make their own decisions. I respect his choice.”
The chronically late mayor showed up 22 minutes after the Queens march’s scheduled start time, but that didn’t stop the thick crowd that lined Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside from cheering his arrival.
“This is the way all our St Patrick’s Day parades should be,” said. Brendan Fey, 55, of Astoria, a Queens parade founder and co-chair.
“We’re thrilled to be walking down Skillman Avenue in Queens today and look forward to the day we will all walk together down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan,” said Fey, who is gay.
Nigel Stephens, 40, a Sunnyside resident, said he was thrilled to have the parade where he lives.
“This is our neighborhood,” said Stephens, whose green scarf matched the shamrock ribbon pinned to his dog Jake’s sweater.
“This is where we want to be. It’s more normal out here in Queens.”
While parade organizers in Manhattan have banned gay groups from marching, those behind Boston’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day parade just reached a tentative agreement with that city to ease its 20-year ban on gay groups to allow a group of gay military veterans to march under its banner.
But they will not be allowed to wear clothing or hold signs that refer to sexual orientation.