NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade chairman John Dunleavy ousted from post amid dispute over gay marchers

NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade chairman John Dunleavy ousted from post amid dispute over gay marchers

John Dunleavy, 78, was ousted Tuesday as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade chairman.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade chairman John Dunleavy has been ousted after 22 years after a decades-long dispute over the inclusion of gay groups at the annual march down Fifth Ave., according to a report.

The decision, made Tuesday afternoon after a meeting involving the parade’s board, comes just four days after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the United States.

But Dunleavy, the 78-year-old Irish-American lead organizer of the country’s biggest St. Pat’s celebration, had long withstood the tides of change, even as his homeland voted in May to legalize gay unions. Just one gay group, employees at NBC Universal, was allowed in this year’s parade after advertisers and politicians alike boycotted the march for the blatant discrimination. It was the first time in the parade’s 254-year history such a group was allowed in.

Dunleavy was so enraged by the group’s inclusion, according to Irish Central, that he threatened to offer broadcast rights to a different network than NBC, which has aired the march for years.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-st-patrick-day-parade-chairman-john-dunleavy-ousted-article-1.2277528

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