Vets group: Change not yet at hand
Gays seek end to parade tiff
Boston pols and the gay veterans who just won permission to march in South Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Sunday say they are expecting leadership changes in the organizing group to prevent any further controversy — but the Allied War Veterans Council’s commander said that hasn’t been decided.
When asked about the potential wholesale change in leadership, Bill Desmond, commander of the Allied War Veterans Council, said: “We’ll have to see what the elements are.” He said the council’s next meeting is in April to discuss nominations.
Desmond’s remarks came after a press conference with OutVets, a gay veterans group, with a highpowered entourage of pols including mayoral candidate City Councilor Tito Jackson, South Boston’s Rep. Nick Collins and Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, and City Council candidate Ed Flynn.
Bryan Bishop, director of OutVets, told reporters, “There is going be a shift in leadership to include community leaders and complete transparency so that this timehonored tradition here in the city of Boston will no more, from this day forward, be mired in controversy. They will be inclusive. They will let people be part of this parade no matter who they are. ... We had to serve our country under fire from our families, from the country as a whole, from the laws and legislation that have tried to take away our rights just because of who we love.”
A political firestorm erupted last week after the vets’ council voted to exclude OutVets from Sunday’s upcoming parade, which prompted high-profile politicians and corporate sponsors to pull out of the event.
Younger veterans were the driving force behind an emergency meeting Friday night to reverse course. Those council members voted unanimously to include OutVets in this year’s march and to prohibit their exclusion in future parades.
But Desmond said the Friday revote was against bylaws, calling it an “ad hoc” vote.
“They couldn’t vote on a chili cheese sandwich or how bright the moon could shine,” Desmond said.
Tim Duross, parade organizer and voting member of the council, said Desmond is right about Friday’s vote but under organization rules Duross said he had the ultimate authority to include OutVets in the parade, which he did by alerting City Hall Friday morning.
Duross added the initial vote was not meant to be discriminatory. He said the council wanted OutVets to forego their rainbow flag, which he said he incorrectly saw only as an expression of sexuality, not a symbol of inclusion and equality.
The council won the right to turn away anyone it wants in a landmark 1995 unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling. But in 2015, it voted to include OutVets.
Forry had initially pledged not to march, but said yesterday she’s “leaning toward marching.”