On the bright but billowing afternoon of March 17, Lavender and Green Alliance, founded by Brendan Fay in 1994, assembled on 48th Street to march in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Little more than a decade ago, the idea of an Irish LGBTQ group marching under our own banner seemed impossible. 25 Years of discrimination, harassment, and arrests of LGBTQ activists finally led to the 2016 reversal, allowing Lavender and Green and OUT@NBC to march. Now, Lavender and Green marked a milestone: 10 years marching and rolling in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
The group also commemorated the 110th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising when I dressed up in a replica Irish Volunteer uniform. Two historical figures associated with the Rising, Roger Casement and Elizabeth O’Farrell, are represented on the Lavender and Green Alliance’s new banner, designed just last year.
This year, we honored activist Sheila Brophy and her daughter, Meghan. Sheila has been advocating and campaigning with the Irish LGBTQ groups since 1991, the year that Mayor David Dinkins marched with the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization and were met with anti-LGBTQ slurs and beer cans being hurled at them by the crowd. Mayor Dinkins likened the experience to marching through Selma, Alabama in the 1960’s.
Also marching with Lavender and Green Alliance this year was Jack Schlossberg, congressional candidate for New York’s 12th District and grandson of President John F. Kennedy. Schlossberg had been invited to march at a campaign event earlier this month and joined in a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ community. During the march, he pulled out his phone and called his mother, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, via FaceTime. She spoke briefly to the group and offered her well wishes. We wished her a happy St Patricks Day and Brendan Fay thanked her for her advocacy for human rights. Schlossberg later wrote on his instagram page “Today is about A LOT more than drinking, it’s about an oppressed people fighting to be free.”
Later he posted pictures with Lavender and Green to his 889,000 followers.
A group of Schlossberg supporters lined the streets, cheering him on and holding signs that read “No PAC Jack” in reference to his pledge not to accept donations from any SuperPACs to fund his campaign.
Also supporting Lavender and Green Alliance was community leader Layla Law-Gisiko, who is currently running to represent District 3 in the New York City Council.
Former Quinnipiac College president John Lahey, who helped lead the effort to open the parade to Irish LGBTQ groups in 2016, also marched with Lavender and Green.
At the end of the march, Fay acknowledged the plight of immigrants who have faced persecution, detention, and deportation, especially in recent times. He remembered the murder of Renee Nicole Good, who spent summers in Ireland. We sent regards to her wife and family.
At 79th Street, we turned off Fifth Avenue and concluded the march with a rousing rendition of “Wilde Mountain Thyme” in memory of Malachy McCourt (1931-2024), who made the song his anthem and marched with Lavender and Green Alliance many times throughout his life. People around us joined in the song.
GayUSA reporter Andy Humm interviewed members about the day’s experience and the challenges of the times we live in.
We had a few minutes for hugs and photographs before we parted to continue the days celebration with friends across the city.
