While St. Patrick’s Day is still a few weeks away, the Queens neighborhoods of Sunnyside and Woodside had the 15th St. Pat’s For All parade on March 2, 2014.
Though the Fifth Avenue St. Patrick’s Day parade dwarfs St. Pat’s For All in terms of size, age and crowd size, what sets St. Pat’s For All apart from its Manhattan and many other NYC counterparts is that St. Pat’s for All is meant to be inclusive. In fact, the parade was established after Brendan Fay, a co-founder, was not allowed to march in the Manhattan parade with anything that would identify him as gay.
This year’s Grand Marshals were Terry McGovern, founder of the HIV Law Project, and Tom Duane, the first out and HIV-positive NY State Senator. St. Pat’s For All was attended by many NYC politicians and Congressmen/Senators representing the state of New York. There was even a representative from the Irish government, Consul General Noel Kilkenny. Bill DeBlasio, who had marched in the parade for years, attended for the first time as mayor.
The celebrity guest was Irish drag queen Panti Bliss, who recently made waves with this impassioned speech at the Abbey Theatre:
Among many other organizations and businesses, there were appearances by Irish culture-related groups and acts:
Bagpipers, marching bands and drum corps:
LGBTQ groups and churches:
A couple of leftist groups and causes (apparently Occupy groups have started marching lately):
At St. Pats for All parade in Queens, people protesting de Blasio's decision to let uniformed city workers march pic.twitter.com/ZL6KupslHf
— Vivian Yee (@VivianHYee) March 2, 2014
And things that can’t be explained:
And then the parade went to the dogs:
Photos via the author.
