March 17, 2015

'Choose Life' Banner Banned in NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade


The Children First Foundation, a pro-adoption group that applied to march in the 2015 St. Patrick's Day Parade, will not be marching today in the world's oldest and largest parade because it was blocked, stonewalled and officially rejected by the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee. Why? That is an important and serious question that the parade organizers should be asked to answer.

Following the Press Conference in September that introduced Cardinal Dolan as the 2015 Grand Marshal and explained the "change of policy," the Wall Street Journal clearly reported that a pro-life group would also "march with a banner."

Dennis Saffran, in a well-documented article entitled "Parade Blarney" published in City Journal, the nation's premier urban-policy magazine, (www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0313ds.html) chronicles the parade organizers' obvious shenanigans that led to the "exclusion" of a pro-life banner while allowing the "inclusion" of a gay banner in the 2015 St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City.

In addition, Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, also carefully explained why he withdrew his own organization in protest from the 2015 Parade last September: "My reasons for withdrawing from the parade have nothing to do with Cardinal Dolan or with gays. It has to do with being betrayed by the parade committee. They not only told me one thing and did another, they decided to include a gay group that is neither Catholic nor Irish while stiffing pro-life Catholics. This is as stunning as it is indefensible."

History will now report that in 2015 there was "no room in the parade" for an organization dedicated to helping pregnant women. Fortunately, the Church of the Holy Innocents, extended a warm welcome to The Children First Foundation and to their banned "Choose Life" banner at their historic church at 128 West 37th Street, close to the parade route between Broadway and 7th Avenue.

Contact: Dr. Elizabeth Rex, President,
Source: The Children First Foundation