Fallout After Staten Island St. Pat's Parade Gay Ban

Staten Island's annual St. Patrick's Day parade is under fire after parade officials tried to stop a gay rights group from marching yesterday.

After the parade's organizers told Staten Island Pride, an LGBT outreach group, that they would not be able to march in the event with their banner, St. Jermaine Endley, a member who is a Staten Islander and New York University student, said he was even more determined to participate. Endley said that becuase he believes the point of marching is to show pride by using flags and banners, he and his friends pinned pieces of rainbow cloth to their coats and attempted to join the march, which took place yesterday afternoon.

Endley says it wasn't long before parade marshall Dennis McKeon approached him and his friends and tried to stop them from marching. 

"He said 'None of that gay crap... this is a Catholic parade'," Endley said. Endley said that during the altercation, McKeon harrassed him and tried to pick a fight with his group of friends.

According to the New York Daily News, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn boycotted the parade, calling it a "setback" for efforts to keep public events open to everyone. Quinn compared this struggle to the Irish one, which is "to be free and to express yourself as God has chosen you to express yourself."

Speaker Quinn is Irish-American and a lesbian and she has boycotted Manhattan's annual 5th Avenue St. Pat's Parade for the same reason. Previously, Quinn had marched the Staten Island parade for five years alongside her father, but the New York Daily News reports, she won't march again until everyone is included.

St. Jermaine Endley said he was suprised to see the parade marshall's behavior in his borough. "You hear about it alot, but I just never thought I'd see that personally."

Here's a video tape of the incident: