Organizers of St. Patrick’s Day parade say Walsh coerced them to include LGBT group
Organizers of South Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade are claiming that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh coerced them to invite an LGBT veterans group to march, according to The Boston Globe.
The South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, which organizes the parade each year, won a Supreme Court lawsuit in 1995 that allows them to exclude certain groups from participating on the grounds of free speech, the Globe reported. An amended complaint filed in Massachusetts District Court this week to an earlier lawsuit alleges that Walsh threatened the organizers, coercing them to include groups that favor him and neglecting the group’s rights.
“Hands off our parade, that’s all we want,” Chester Darling, an attorney for the organizers, told the Globe.
Darling says that Walsh called a parade organizer and shouted at him. The Globe obtained a voicemail Walsh left the man apologizing for the rant.
When asked about the allegations and the voicemail, Laura Oggeri, a spokeswoman for Walsh, gave the Globe the following statement:
“Mayor Walsh is incredibly passionate about ensuring Boston is an inclusive and welcoming city for all people, and he will continue to fight for the LGBTQ community in every aspect of his work.”
Read the full Globe story here.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com