Community Board 1 demands that Mayor Eric Adams defund Staten Island's St. Patrick's Parade due to the exclusion of the Pride Center of Staten Island and other LGBTQ+ groups from the annual event.
The demand is supported by many local elected officials and private entities standing in solidarity with the Pride Center of Staten Island.
Organization's Letter to Mayor Adams
Community Board 1 reportedly wrote a second letter to Adams after their initial request, which they sent in July 2022 but have yet to receive a response.
They requested that city funding not be utilized to organize the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
The Advance was informed the year before that the annual Staten Island St. Patrick's Parade results in New York City spending around $300,000 annually on overtime pay for the police and on worker services provided by Sanitation (DSNY).
After receiving a request for information from the Staten Island Pride Center, the office of City Comptroller Brad Lander developed a financial breakdown of the services provided.
The letter to the mayor follows a heated encounter by Parade Committee leader Larry Cummings on Sunday when the LGBT Center of Staten Island and the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) attempted to apply to march in the 2023 commemoration of Irish ancestry at Blessed Sacrament R.C. Church in West Brighton.
And on Wednesday, the organizers of a longstanding political brunch held yearly at Jody's Club Forest on the morning of the parade indicated that they will not continue the practice in support of LGBTQ+ groups that will not be allowed to march in the parade.
Refusing to Join LGBTQ+ Groups
Representatives from two distinct community groups, the Pride Center of Staten Island and the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL), went to Blessed Sacrament Church on Sunday to apply for openly marching to the SI's St. Patrick's Day parade.
However, they were denied to join the parade.
Carol Bullock, the executive director of the Staten Island Pride Center, has been submitting applications for the community group's participation in the march since 2018.
Bullock added that she attempted to arrange a meeting this year to discuss the facility. Larry Cummings, however, the chairman of the Parade committee, denied her request.
Dozens of supporters, many of whom were sporting pride buttons and carrying Irish and pride flags, made their way to the entrance to the church's basement to submit their applications to Cummings.
In addition, Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, a Democrat representing North Shore and South Brooklyn, returned to the church in question and knocked on the door a second time.
This time, she detailed how an additional organization known as GOAL had expressed interest in applying for the position. She was the only one who heard the man's response: "No, I'm sorry."
She continued by stating that elected officials from all major political parties had decided not to march in the parade to demonstrate their support for LGBTQ+ groups that were prohibited from publicly participating.
Spanton emphasized that she does not want that episode to serve as an example of Staten Island in circumstances where "one person" impedes the progress of a group.
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