LGBTQ groups finally invited to march in Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade — ending NYC event’s decades-long anti-gay ban

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.