As Boston St. Pat’s Parade allows gay group to march, critics say vote was illegal
Boston ’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade will allow a homosexual group to march in the 2015 event for the first time in the parade’s 100-plus year history. The parade’s organizers, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, voted 5-4 on December 15 to allow the group OutVets to join the parade next March 15. The council had previously withstood the push to allow homosexual groups, even prevailing in a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court decision protecting its right to refuse groups promoting homosexuality. OutVets, which acts for veterans identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender , has been cleared to carry a blue sign with five white stars denoting the branches of the military and six vertical rainbow stripes. “We're marching as veterans who happen to be gay," said Bryan Bishop , OutVets founder, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and chief of staff in the Boston Veteran’s Services agency. Brian Mahoney, the commander of the veteran’s council, told the AP the