The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today condemned the decision of the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council—the sponsors of Boston’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade—to invite the state’s largest same sex marriage lobby, MassEquality, to march in the parade on March 16th.
Parade coordinator Tom Duross said “We’d be happy to have them here. And we’d be proud to have them here….You’re a great organization, you do wonderful things for people, and therefore we’d be happy to have you in our parade.”
The Catholic Action League called the about face by the Council “a cowardly abandonment of longstanding principles, a disgraceful surrender to political pressure, and a callous betrayal of all those, living and dead, who fought to defend their constitutional rights.”
Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “We will, perhaps, never know what means Mayor Walsh used to bribe, bully or cajole the veterans into reversing their position, but he certainly delivered for the powerful and affluent special interest which did so much to promote and finance his mayoral campaign.”
“The so-called restrictions which supposedly forbid mention of sexual orientation are entirely fraudulent, a sham and a fig leaf. As Duross himself has said: ‘Everybody knows who MassEquality is.’ ”
With this decision to dishonor Saint Patrick, the veterans council should have the minimal decency to change the name of the parade, as it no longer has any meaningful connection to the Catholic saint who brought the Faith to Ireland. Catholic organizations should refuse to participate in a parade that hosts a group which demonizes Catholic moral teachings as bigotry, hatred and prejudice.”
“No one should forget the origin of this controversy. In 1992, a group of aggressive sociopaths tried to force their way into somebody else’s parade despite the fact that their message and values were radically at variance with those of the parade organizers. Now, 22 years later, with the help of Boston’s bought and paid for political class, they have finally succeeded.”
“This episode should remind us of the thuggish, totalitarian character of the homosexual movement, which has no regard for the rights, beliefs, and sensibilities of others, and which thinks that all of those who resist its demands must be pressured and coerced into submission, as the veterans were evidently pressured and coerced into submission yesterday.”
“This decision is a milestone defeat for religious freedom, moral sanity, and what very little remains of Boston’s once Catholic identity.”
