Stubborn Bigotry Wins LGBTQ Staten Islanders Allies
St. Patricks Day organizers ejected participants left and right in a bigoted furor
BY MATT TRACY
An escalating campaign
of homophobia plagued
the Staten Island St.
Patrick’s Day Parade as
marchers stepped off on March 1,
but the LGBTQ community and allies
turned out in large numbers to
push back against the bigotry.
The parade has been shrouded
in a years-long controversy due to
the homophobia of its organizer,
Larry Cummings, who has continued
to ban LGBTQ individuals
and groups from participating. After
rejecting for yet another year
the Staten Island Pride Center
from participating, organizers also
banned Miss Staten Island Madison
L’Insalata when she came out
as bisexual. And as the parade
was due to step off, Staten Island
Councilmember Joe Borelli was
also blocked when he tried marching
with a tiny rainbow pin.
The Port Richmond and Tottenville
High School bands were also
slated to participate in the march
but were told that they could not
do so as long as they kept rainbow
stickers on their uniforms and instruments.
They boldly decided to
keep the stickers and refused to
participate.
Members of the Staten Island
Pride Center and others participated
in an annual Rainbow Run
on the same day as the borough’s
St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Families
and residents of Staten Island outraged
by Cummings’ determined
obstinacy turned out for the run
to show solidarity with the LGBTQ
community.
“It was just an amazing day,”
Staten Island Pride Center executive
director Carol Bullock told Gay
City News. “The amount of support
from the community was absolutely
overwhelming. There were Rainbow
Flags, rainbow balloons… as I
➤ ST. PAT’S FOR ALL, from p.8
and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
both of whose districts include
portions of Queens, Dromm, and
Folks affi liated with the Pride Center of Staten Island decked out in rainbow colors in response to the
homophobic policies of the borough’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
walked down the street along the
sideline of the parade, the community
was so positive.”
In an example of the emotional
response to the parade’s ban on
LGBTQ participants, Bullock said
she encountered a family that attached
a rainbow fl agpole to their
baby’s stroller.
“I went up to them and said,
‘Thank you so much,’ and the
woman looked at me and said, ‘My
husband was outraged so he came
out and got the fl ag and painted
the pole.’” Bullock recalled. “Some
of the stories were just unbelievable.”
The unmistakable message sent
by the community and its allies
came as little surprise considering
that organizers were even willing to
ban conservative individuals such
as Borelli, who has a long track record
of anti-LGBTQ actions.
Bullock said she gave Borelli,
former State Senator Tom Duane.
Ocasio-Cortez, marching for the
second year, called the parade —
and Woodside — a “special jewel,
where the spirit of today is inclusivity:
FACEBOOK/ PRIDE CENTER OF STATEN ISLAND
who was accompanied by his family,
a rainbow pin at an event ahead
of the parade on March 1. Hours
later, Borelli told the Staten Island
Advance that he was “physically
blocked” from marching by one of
the parade marshals.
“They called the police on me,”
he said. “I spoke to a sergeant and
was not going to make the life of
our cops more complicated to prove
a point… I didn’t come with it looking
for an argument; my friends
handed a pin to me. I really didn’t
think it was a big affront to the
Irish.”
He added, “Tough guys couldn’t
contend with a half-inch pin.”
Many local elected offi cials who
were disgusted by the organizers’
policies made clear ahead of the
parade that they would not participate
as long as the community
was banned. US Senator Kirsten
Gillibrand, Congressmember Max
we’re here to celebrate each
other.”
Dromm brought up onto the fl atbed
a young girl who had written
him. Introducing her as “Abigail
COMMUNITY
Rose, State Senator Diane Savino,
and Councilmember Deborah
Rose, all Democrats, were among
those to protest the parade, as were
Republican Borough President
Jimmy Oddo and Councilmember
Steven Matteo.
As evidenced by his attempt to
participate, Borelli was — along
with Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis,
who is aiming to challenge
Rose for his US House seat in
November — among the remaining
local elected offi cials still willing to
join the march.
Borelli’s ban came in the wake
of parade organizers’ decision to
blocked 2020 Miss Staten Island
Madison L’Insalata, who came out
as bisexual to the New York Post
one day before the parade and
vowed to wear rainbow colors while
marching.
Neither L’Insalata nor Borelli
could be reached for comment for
this story, but Bullock voiced her
disappointment over the organizers’
actions and described their decision
to block L’Insalata as “horrible.”
“They cited security concerns,
which from my perspective was
hiding behind some excuse to mask
discrimination,” Bullock said.
Still, queer folks and allies in
Staten Island took a stand that
could not be missed — and that,
in the end, overshadowed the parade’s
organizers and showed that
even in one of the city’s most conservative
areas, homophobia is not
tolerated.
“The message it sent to Staten
Island was that we’re supportive,”
Bullock said. “It’s a small group of
individuals who are displaying this
discriminatory behavior and hopefully
it has made some of our youth
or other individuals who haven’t
come out yet feel a lot more comfortable
knowing there are people
who are supportive.”
from PS 38,” he said the 10-yearold
had told him about her sister
Hannah, who has sickle cell ane-
➤ ST. PAT’S FOR ALL, continued on p.10
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