LGBTQ groups will be allowed to march in Staten Island’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade for the first time ever this year, organizers announced Tuesday — ending a long-running controversy over the annual event’s anti-gay stance.
The announcement followed years of boycotts from local pols over LGBTQ groups being banned from marching in the borough’s annual Irish heritage parade.
“The Richmond County St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee wishes to announce that the Staten Island Pride Center has been invited to march, under their own banner, in the 2025 Saint Patrick’s Day Parade,” the committee wrote in a statement first shared with Staten Island Advance.
“The parade committee is entrusted with ensuring the focus of the parade remains upon Saint Patrick, the history, traditions, culture and faith of the Irish people,” the committee added. “In this endeavor, the leadership of The Pride Center has assured the parade committee that they are ready to provide support to the parade in fulfilling this obligation.”
The Richmond County St. Patrick’s Day Parade, a 60-year-old tradition in the borough, is believed to be the last in the world to have excluded LGBTQ community members from marching – including Miss Staten Island 2020 Madison L’Insalata, who was banned from the festivities after coming out as bisexual that year to The Post.
City Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-Staten Island) was also barred from marching in the parade that same year — because he was wearing a tiny pride pin.
Borelli, who showed up with his wife and their two sons, previously told The Post the parade marshals “called the police” on him.
A separate procession was held on Staten Island last March, two weeks after the official St. Patrick’s Day Parade, that allowed LGBTQ groups to participate.
“We are truly honored to be invited to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” the Pride Center of Staten Island, credited by Mayor Eric Adams for its advocacy leading up to the committee’s decision, wrote in a statement Tuesday.
“This event is a time-honored tradition that brings people together from all walks of life to celebrate Irish culture, and we are excited to be part of this vibrant community celebration,” the organization added.
In a statement, Adams said he was “thrilled” with the decision by the organizing committee.
“From day one, our administration has been clear that celebrations in our city should be welcoming and inclusive, which is why we brought the community together, along with the Staten Island Business Outreach Center, to create the first-ever — and incredibly successful — fully-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Staten Island earlier this year,” Adams said.
“We are thrilled that, this year, Staten Island’s LGBTQ+ community will finally be welcome to march under their own banner in the Richmond County St. Patrick’s Day Parade and we applaud the committee for coming to this decision, which was a long-time coming,” the statement said. “Congratulations to the Staten Island community, including the Pride Center of Staten Island and the Lavender and Green Alliance, for their long advocacy for inclusion.”
The first LGBTQ-inclusive parade is slated to step off on March 2, 2025.
