NEW YORK, Nov. 29 -- The Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization threatened Wednesday to disrupt the 1996 St. Patrick's Day Parade if the New York City Police Department does not grant a permit for a pre-parade protest against ILGO's exclusion from the annual trooping up Fifth Avenue. 'If ILGO does not receive a permit and is again obstructed from exercising our First Amendment right to protest, we will organize the largest civil disobedience action this city has ever seen,' ILGO member Marie Honan said at a news conference in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral. 'Forty affinity groups of lesbians and gay men off all ethnic and racial identities will participate in 40 separate acts of protests and civil disobedience, on every block of the St. Patrick's Day Parade.' Honan also said that if the Police Department does not respond to its permit request by Dec. 15, it will file a lawsuit. Since 1993, hundreds of members and supporters of ILGO have been arrested in St. Patrick's Day protests, but there never was an attempt to disrupt the parade. ILGO wants to stage its protest on Fifth Avenue before the traditional parade begins. In the past, the Police Department has argued that it is logistically impossible to accommodate both the protesters and the parade marchers on the same street on the same day. ILGO has waged an unsuccessful legal battle for permission to march in the parade behind its banner. The parade sponsors, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, have refused, suggesting that members instead march behind banners representing counties of Ireland, with no further identification.
In 1995, the Hibernians won a court ruling that the parade is a private religious event and therefore the sponsors are not required to include anyone who asks to march. The 235th annual parade will run along Fifth Avenue from 40th to 86th streets -- just over 2 miles.