Two gay groups will march in South
Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade, the nation's second largest behind
New York.
LGBT rights group Boston Pride and gay
veterans organization OutVets are the first two groups to participate
in the annual Irish-American march.
The Allied War Veterans Council, which
organizes the parade, had imposed a longtime ban on LGBT groups,
saying that homosexuality conflicted with Catholic doctrine. In
1995, the Supreme Court upheld the group's right to exclude gays.
Malcolm Carey of Boston Pride applauded
the move.
“This is a huge step forward in our
mission to have inclusivity in our city and in the Boston-area
community,” he told Reuters.
Mayor Marty Walsh, who skipped last
year's parade due to the ban, will march in Sunday's parade.
“With this year's parade, Boston is
putting years of controversy behind us,” Walsh said in a statement.