Let All GLBTQ Groups, Veterans For Peace and All Peace Activists In The Annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade in 2015
Veterans For
Peace
For Immediate
Release
Veterans For Peace applauds the decision
by the Allied War Veterans Council to allow OUTVETS, a fledging new LGBT
veterans group, to walk in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.
The LGBT community has been denied
participation in the traditional Saint Patrick’s Day Parade for over twenty
years. This certainly signals a step in the right direction.
It is wonderful that this group can
participate. Now what about the rest of the LGBT community and area peace
groups? “Now may be the time to invite Veterans For Peace and all the other LGBT
groups and peace groups to participate in the celebration of Saint Patrick on
this very special day,” stated Pat Scanlon, a Vietnam Veteran, and the
Coordinator of the Boston area chapter of Veterans For Peace.
Veterans For Peace is a national veterans
organization with headquarters in Saint Louis, Missouri. The organization has
140 chapters and 4,000 members across the country. One of the largest and most
active chapters is known as the Smedley D. Butler Brigade right here in the
Boston area. Several members of the local chapter are life long residents of
South Boston yet are not allowed to march in the traditional parade because they
advocate peace.
Veterans For Peace is the only veterans
organization in the country that opposes war as an instrument of national
policy, and advocates exhausting all avenues of diplomacy and negotiations
before sending our young men and women into battle. Because of this stance
veterans who have dutifully served this country, many who have experienced the
horrors of war, are not allowed to participate in this historic parade because
they now advocate peaceful resolution to conflict.
Five years ago Veterans For Peace applied
to walk in the traditional parade and were denied. The stated reason for the
denial was that the parade organizers “did not want the word peace associated
with the word veteran.”. For the past five years Veterans For Peace have
organized their own “Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade, the
alternative parade for Peace, Equality, Jobs, Environmental Stewardship, Social
and Economic Justice, that follows the same route as the first parade, but a
mile behind. “Our parade is welcoming and inclusive of all groups especially the
Boston area LGBT and peace groups because of their past exclusion,” added
Scanlon. Last year the Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade had two thousand
participants, eight divisions, eight bands and a lot of Irish revelry
celebrating the patron saint of Ireland.
We think that the time has come to combine
both parades and have one inclusive welcoming parade for all those wishing to
celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. Maybe this is year,” concluded Scanlon.
Web: smedleyvfp.org
Twitter: @smedleyVFP Facebook:
facebook.com/smedleyvfp
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