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MARCH 24, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
A display of Irish pride!
Spectators cheer on fi rst LGBTQ marchers in Brooklyn St. Patrick’s Day Parade
BY COLIN MIXSON
This parade brought the cheer —
and the queers!
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and queer Brooklynites
proudly celebrated their Irish
heritage with hundreds of others
on March 17, when they marched
through Park Slope during the
borough’s eponymous St. Patrick’s
Day parade for the fi rst
time in the event’s 44-year history.
Organizers’ decision to diversify
the parade thrilled its spectators,
who cheered the LGBTQ
marchers on as they stepped
along the pavement, according to
a participant.
“We were just overwhelmed
with the positive response that
we received, both from other
marchers in the parade, and from
people along the sides,” said Lisa
Fane, a co-founder of the Brooklyn
Irish LGBTQ Organization,
whose members joined the March
17 procession. “We had a great
time.”
The privately funded Brooklyn
St. Patrick’s Day Parade —
which kicks off near 15th Street
before snaking down Seventh
Avenue, turning onto Garfi eld
Place, and then heading back
up towards 15th Street via Prospect
Park West — began in 1976,
and has grown to become Kings
County’s grandest celebration of
Irish heritage, according to its
chief organizer, who said it now
attracts annual participants from
roughly 50 organizations, including
the Clann Eireann Pipe Band,
the O’Malley Academy of Irish
Dance, local Boy and Girl Scout
troops, the Ancient Order of Hybernians,
and Park Slope’s Holy
Name of Jesus Church, where
many marchers attend mass before
stepping off each year.
“It’s a parade that the people
want,” said Brooklyn St. Patrick’s
Day Parade Chairwoman
Mary Hogan.
And earlier this year, Hogan
and fellow organizers further expanded
its ranks after Fane, her
Brooklyn Irish LGBTQ Organization
co-founder Matthew Mc-
Morrow, and Park Slope Assemblyman
Robert Carroll — whose
grandfather helped start the tradition
— submitted the fi rst application
to march from a queer
organization since 1999, when parade
chiefs denied an application
MAKING HISTORY: (Clockwise from top) Local pols including Assemblyman Robert Carroll, far left, Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, center left in green scarf,
Borough President Adams, middle right, and Councilman Brad Lander, far right, marched on March 17 along with members of the Brooklyn Irish LGBTQ Organization,
the fi rst group of its kind to formally join the Brooklyn St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Buckley School of Irish Dance students smiled for the camera. A pint-sized spectator
showed her Irish spirit. Photos by Caroline Ourso
to march from LGBTQ advocates
with the Lavender and Green Alliance,
whose members led protests
at that year’s procession, resulting
in their arrest.
The parade’s fi rst formal LGBTQ
marchers stepped alongside
nearly 50 supporters, including
Park Slope Councilman Brad
Lander, Park Slope Rep. Yvette
Clarke, Boerum Hill Assemblywoman
Jo Anne Simon, and
Borough President Adams, all of
whom walked with giant ribbons
attached to their jackets that combined
the colors of the Irish and
rainbow fl ags.
Grand Marshall Bernadette
Kash, the owner of the Buckley
School of Irish Dance on Prospect
Park West, led the 2019 festivities,
after marching in every incarnation
of the beloved procession
since its founding, she claimed.
“I had parents tell me the kids
couldn’t sleep the night before
they were so excited,” said Kash,
who processed along with roughly
100 of her students, all dressed in
green.
And more pedestrians packed
the sidewalks lining the route
this year than for marches past,
perhaps due to the parade’s newfound
diversity — or that it occurred
on the day of the holiday
it celebrated, according to Hogan.
“The fact that the parade was
on St. Pat’s helps,” she said. “We
were very happy.”