Subject: PLAGAL Urges St. Pat's NY Parade Consistency
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 1997 15:06:14 -0500 (EST)

Media Release From:

THE PRO-LIFE ALLIANCE
OF GAYS AND LESBIANS

Post Office Box 33292
Washington, DC 20033
Tel: (202) 223-6697
Fax: (202) 265-9737
Internet:  Plagal [email-masked]

PRO-LIFE GAYS CALL FOR 
HIBERNIAN PARADE CONSISTENCY

NEW YORK, NY.  February 20, 1997.   Philip Arcidi, President of the Pro-Life
Alliance of Gays and Lesbians [PLAGAL], today urged the Ancient Order of
Hibernians [AOH] to be consistent in their exclusionary policy and to bar
pro-choice leaders from their parade.  This policy was upheld by the United
States Supreme Court in Hurley v. Irish-American Gay Group of Boston, a 1995
decision concerning the exclusion of gays and lesbians from the 1993 Boston
Parade on First Amendment grounds.  Since Lesbians and Gays are excluded from
the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade because their lives do not conform to
Roman Catholic Church teachings, PLAGAL called for the exclusion of
pro-choice politicians because they do not conform to those same standards.

In a letter addressed to Edward J. Wallace, President of the AOH, Mr. Arcidi
argued: "In years gone by, and, we would expect, in 1997, the Ancient Order
of Hibernians will apply a forthright criterion for marching in the New York
Saint Patrick's Day Parade:  It will admit only those whose public standards
confirm with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.  I request that you
apply your criterion consistently.

"One of the Church's strongest imperatives, and America's critical human
rights issue, is the protection of our most vulnerable minority, preborn
infants.  In the belief that we share pro-life convictions, I ask the Ancient
Order of Hibernians to deny the pro-choice politicians the privilege and
honor of marching in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade.  The Pro-Life Alliance
of Gays and Lesbians is greatly troubled to see the Parade rendered a
publicity platform for lawmakers who promote America's grievous abortion
policy.

"The pro-choice politicians who join your festivities are opportunists, eager
for the Ancient Order of Hibernians' validation and, ultimately, another term
of office.  Their presence reveals a double standard that disfigures your
parade.  To honor them is to render the 4300 people lost to abortion each day
an expendable mortality.

"It is disappointing to see the Ancient Order of Hibernians abandon its
self-proclaimed consistency with Roman Catholic teachings only when those who
cannot speak for themselves -- the unborn -- suffer the consequences."

_________

This letter may be run as article, as an open copy in your letters to the
editor, or as the basis for a news report.  The Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and
Lesbians was organized in 1990 to advance the pro- life cause within the
lesbian and gay community.  It has over six hundred members and active groups
in Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and
Washington, DC.  Mr. Arcidi, a native of the Boston area, has been President
since 1995.