Mayor de Blasio shrugged off a plea Tuesday to ban city workers from wearing their uniforms at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, whose organizers exclude openly gay groups from marching.
While the mayor said he isn’t planning to participate in this year’s march on Fifth Avenue, he wouldn’t concede to the request by gay rights groups and elected officials – including two City Council members and close ally Letitia James, the public advocate.
“I believe that uniformed city workers have the right to participate if they choose to, and I respect that right,” Hizzoner said at a City Hall press conference.
More than two dozen gay rights groups, dozens of elected officials and several private citizens called on the mayor to intervene in an open letter published Tuesday in Gay City News.
“The presence of uniformed police and firefighters in such a procession sends a clear signal to LGBTQ New Yorkers that these personnel, who are charged with serving and protecting all New Yorkers, do not respect the lives or safety of LGBTQ people,” they wrote.
“We are asking you to direct all City departments not to organize marchers for, or allow personnel, to participate in this anti-LGBTQ procession either in uniform or with any banner that identifies them with the City.”
Despite not heeding their call, the mayor — who said he would be participating in other events around the city celebrating Irish-American heritage — emphasized that he disagreed with the parade organizers’ stance against openly gay groups.
“I’m not planning on marching in the parade. I haven’t in the past in my capacity as an elected official,” he said. “I simply disagree with the organizers of that parade in their exclusion of some individuals in this city.”
His predecessor, ex-Mayor Bloomberg, marched annually while openly gay former Council Speaker Christine Quinn had boycotted the parade for years.
The NYC Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, the non-profit that runs the march, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This year’s parade is scheduled for Monday, March 17.
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