After 60 years of fighting for inclusion, LGBTQ+ groups will finally be permitted to march in the Richmond County Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.
At the forefront of this decades-long fight is the Pride Center of Staten Island. The organization’s Executive Director, Carol Bullock, has spent years applying for the right to participate in the celebration, despite being rejected every time.
On March 2, 2025, her work will pay off, and the Pride Center will proudly march alongside other community organizations in Staten Island’s official St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
“We are truly honored to be invited to march in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade,” Bullock said in a statement shared on Instagram. “This event is a time-honored tradition that brings people together from all walks of life to celebrate Irish culture, and we are excited to be part of this vibrant community celebration.”
Edward Patterson, the new chair of the borough’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, told reporters Tuesday, “it’s just time.”
“The Pride Center [of Staten Island] has long asserted that they merely wish to be treated like any other marching contingent in the parade,” he said. “Putting an end to controversy is good for the parade and good for the community of Staten Island.”
Throughout the entirety of Staten Island’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the committee refused to bend to the constant pressure to allow LGBTQ+ groups to march openly. The committee’s former head Larry Cummings cited the “Catholic nature” of the celebration as a reason to exclude the groups, according to SI Live. He was cited multiple times refusing to have a conversation with Bullock or reporters about his reasoning.
Staten Island’s parade is one of the last St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the world to continue to exclude LGBTQ+ groups. Manhattan’s much larger St. Patrick’s Day Parade lifted its ban in 2014.
When the committee announced their historic decision Tuesday, they assured the community the tradition of the parade would not be lost by including LGBTQ+ groups.
“The Parade Committee is entrusted with ensuring the focus of the parade remains upon Saint Patrick, the history, traditions, culture, and faith of the Irish people. In this endeavor, the leadership of the Pride Center has assured the Parade Committee that they are ready to provide support to the Parade in fulfilling this obligation,” the group said in a statement.
This year, the Forest Avenue Business Improvement District put together the borough’s first-ever inclusive St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17. LGBTQ+ groups, politicians, and many residents who had long boycotted the official parade took to the streets to march.
With both groups coming together next year, the borough’s official parade is expected to be the largest one in years, according to SI Live.
