STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The announcement of a new, inclusive St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Staten Island has reached far and wide — so far, in fact, Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update poked fun at the situation.
Hosted by Staten Islander Colin Jost and Michael Che, the segment revolves around reporting on worldwide news with a humorous SNL spin to it. On Saturday, Che discussed the new parade in front of a live audience.
“Staten Island officials are holding a separate St. Patrick’s Day Parade that will welcome LGBTQ groups who were banned from the official parade. ‘Cuz sadly, on Staten Island, LGTBQ stands for ‘Let’s go bully the queers,’” Che said.
The crowd erupted as Che shook his head, laughing. “I know… That’s not what it should stand for,” he said.
Jost, who was raised in Grymes Hill, also shook his head: “I feel attacked,” the comedian said.
The St. Patrick’s Parade planned by the Staten Island Parade Committee, while a decades-old Staten Island staple, has outraged the community for purposefully excluding LGBTQ+ groups in recent years. The Pride Center of Staten Island, long hoping to participate, has repeatedly been denied the right to march, with the planning committee citing teachings of the Catholic Church as a reason to exclude the group.
The New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan ended a two-decade ban of LGBTQ+ groups in 2014. Parades in Boston and Dublin have done the same. The traditional Staten Island event is likely one of the only St. Patrick’s parades left in the world to continue to exclude LGBTQ+ groups from marching under their own banners.
The new parade comes following an advocacy project launched last year by the Advance/SILive.com which highlighted the ongoing LGBTQ+ exclusion by the original parade organizers through a series of stories that explored the large amount of city resources used to support the event, as well as the…
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