Boston (UPI) -- A judge has ruled that sexual orientation cannot be used
to bar a homosexual group from marching in Boston's annual St.
Patrick's Day parade.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge J. Harold Flannery Wednesday issued a
permanent injunction allowing the homosexuals to march as a group
without restrictions.

The veterans group that organizes the parade through predominantly Irish
South Boston vowed to appeal in order to keep the Irish-American Gay,
Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston from taking part in the March
event.

Flannery noted that the parade celebrates both St. Patrick's Day and
Evacuation Day, the day British troopers were driven from Boston during
the Revolutionary War.

"History does not record that St. Patrick limited his ministry to
heterosexuals or that Gen. (George) Washington's soldiers were all
straight," Flannery said.

The parade organizers, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council,
tried to keep the homosexual group from marching in the past two
parades, but temporary injunctions allowed the homosexuals to
participate, although with restrictions and under heavy police guard.

Flannery made the injunction permanent, and ordered the veterans to
treat the gay organization the same as any other group that wants to
march.

However, Chester Darling, the lawyer for the parade organizers,
criticized the ruling.

"We will be appealing" to the state Supreme Court and, if necessary, to
the U.S. Supreme Court, Darling said.

During a hearing in November, Darling had argued that the parade is a
privately organized affair and that organizers had the right to limit
participation.

Flannery disagreed and said the parade is a "public event."

Mary Bonauto, who represented the gay marchers, praised Flannery's
decision.

"We hope everyone can put the days of legal proceedings behind us and we
can have a happy celebration of St. Patrick's Day," Bonauto said.