It looks like gay veterans will be marching openly at the Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade this March.
This evening, OutVETS, a national LGBTQ veterans organization, presented its application to participate in the parade to the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, which holds the event.
The Council approved the group’s application for the 2015 parade, according to an OutVETS representative who was present and who did not wish to comment any further before allowing the organizations to tell the news to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who has been working hard since taking office last year to ensure that the parade would not ban gay groups anymore.
Gay veterans have been banned from marching in the popular St. Patrick’s Day Parade through South Boston since 1995 when the Supreme Court ruled that the Council had the right to reject an application by the Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston (GLIB) on 1st Amendment grounds. In Hurley v. Irish American, SCOTUS unanimously agreed that the Council’s free speech rights were violated when the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ordered the Council to include GLIB in the 1992 and 1992 parades.
OutVETS is an incorporated veterans service organization dedicated to honoring the sacrifice of our country’s LGBTQ veterans. Founded in September 2014 and recognized by the American Legion, OutVETS first marched in Boston’s Veterans Day Parade in November.
Now it looks like OutVETS will make history by marching on March 17 through Southie.
