NYC: St. Patrick's Day Parade

The New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade has announced one gay organization - OUT (at) NBCUniversal - to march under it's own banner in the March 17, 2015 event:

The private New York City Saint Patrick's Day Parade Committee, in a statement made available to The Associated Press, said Wednesday that OUT(at)NBCUniversal, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender resource group at the company that broadcasts the parade, would be marching up Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on March 17 under an identifying banner.

OUT(at)NBCUniversal is described on its website as "the affinity group for LGBT & Straight Ally employees at NBCUniversal." Parade directors voted unanimously to include the group, the statement said.

In past parades, gays and lesbians were allowed to march as individuals as part of contingents, but not as specifically "LGBT" identifying groups.

Catholic League's Bill Donohue issued this statement:

"Never in the history of New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade have homosexuals been barred from marching, anymore than pro-life Catholics have, but in both cases they were not permitted to have their own unit. I have been assured that the rules have been formally changed to allow both of these groups, as well as others, to march under their own banner. That being the case, there should be no controversy. One would hope that all the new entries will conduct themselves in a manner that honors St. Patrick, lest another round of controversy emerges."

From GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis:

"It’s about time. Discrimination has no place on America’s streets, least of all on Fifth Avenue. As an Irish-Catholic American, I look forward to a fully inclusive St. Patrick’s Day Parade that I can share with my wife and children, just as my own parents shared with me. Until then, parade organizers must be held accountable to ending this ban once and for all."