De Blasio Not Marching in St. Patrick’s Parade

Newly elected New York mayor Bill De Blasio plans to skip this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade because of its exclusions of LGBT groups. He will be the first New York mayor in 20 years to not march down Fifth Avenue in the Irish-American celebration. David N. Dinkins boycotted the parade in 1993 after sponsors won a court battle to exclude a group of openly gay Irish-Americans from participating. De Blasio plans to participate in several other events on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, “to honor the Irish heritage of this city and the contributions of Irish-Americans.”