Also (I think) important to note is how much overlap there is between Walsh voters and those opposing gay groups marching. That this is a Dot guy gives it a lot more weight to the bigots I'd imagine.

Wow paul, generalize much?
What a load of bullshit this article is!

@2: As a proud Bostonian, get the fuck outta heah. This is pretty accurate. St. Patrick's day is a HUUUUUGE deal, and Mumbles was mayor for ever.

Good on Walsh.

When I lived in Boston, I wore orange socks every St. Patrick's Day. I never got beat up. Of course I never went near the parade.

When I lived in Boston, I never once noticed the color of anyone's socks.

I am shocked and amazed that the parade continues to ban gay groups, though. Good on Mahty.

Who "accidentally" wears orange ever?

Because Constant grew up in Bumfuck, Maine umpteen years ago he pretends he knows the Boston of today and can make ridiculous generalizations.

As my Southie relatives would say, "Fuckin' peckahead."

St. Patrick's Day, parades and homophobes. Sounds like hell to me.

I wouldn't want to march in a parade to an imaginary character created for getting drunk anyway.

Proud Bostonian here, and every single sentence in this post contains an inaccuracy, is misleading, or completely misses the point.

I lived in Cambridge when Menino got elected, but somehow missed out on this whole St. Patrick's Day thing. I guess that happened on the other side of the Charles? It is beyond sad that bigots are still in control of a civic event.

@6, I used to, when I had a lot more orange in my wardrobe. I still have orange shirts that could easily come up in the rotation on the "wrong" day.

@9, Ireland has mostly adopted our tradition now, but St. Patrick's Day used to be a very solemn holiday there -- ironically the only day of the year the pubs were closed. All this green beer bullshit is wholly American in origin.

@6: hunters? construction crews?

@2, 7, 10

Apparently, Paul got something wrong. Why not help those of us who know little of the area, culture, and politics and be, y'know, informative and useful?

Otherwise, I'm probably just going to remember what he said.

@14: You notice they're not denying that gays are being explicitly excluded from the parade.

Never trust a papist.
- Bill "the butcher" Cutting

This post implies that Mayor Menino marched in the parade, when, in fact, he boycotted it since 1994. He described it as "a discriminatory event." So, this post does a disservice by maligning Menino as someone who never tried to do anything about it, as well as setting up Walsh's announcement as something different and something that Bostonians would find "tantamount to treason."

@17

Yup, that's information that makes me see the post very differently. Thanks.

#17: It's the Paul Constant style. He like to generalize and simplify.

#19: er, likes.

@12: SP day is not the only day pubs are closed...Good Friday for sure. I was in Dublin one Good Friday eve and at about 11:40 the bartenders were like drink up 'em and get gone. At 11:55 every pub around was empty. The hotel I was staying at opened a private pub (hidden from outside view) on Good Friday itself. They had security at the hotel's front doors making sure that only hotel guests entered.

@12...I now see you actually said "were"...so maybe you're referring to some point in the distant past. If so, my apologies for reading fail. But, I was struck by how utterly fucking dead it was on Good Friday. Everything was closed.

How many things did Paul "I moved here from Maine a decade ago & my knowledge of Boston is completely superficial" Constant get wrong? Let's take an inventory!

1. "St. Patrick's Day is a big deal in Boston culture." - Did ya know a lot of Irish-Americans live in Boston? Huh, didya? Traveling in the Boston = Irish caricature is pretty weak sauce. You know who else has lots of Irish? New York City. NYC actually has the largest St. Paddy's Day parade in the U.S. Chicago is also chock o' block full of the Blarney Stone. Every year for St. Paddy's Day, Chicago ties the Chicago River green. That's right, they turn their entire frickin' river GREEN. The truth is that while St. Patrick's Day is a big party day in Boston, its no bigger a party scene in Boston these days than...the Gay Pride Parade. Boston Pride Parade draws about the same number of attendees as St. Patrick's Day - about 400,000 people. The truth is, the real heart & soul festival of modern Boston is Boston Marathon Day, which is held on Patriot's Day - the 3rd Monday in April which celebrates the American Revolution. Its a city and county holiday, and also always a home game at Fenway for the Red Sox, who start their game in the morning that day so that Fenway fans can empty out onto the street just as the runners are starting to cross the finish line. Over half a million people turn out every year for the event. Put it this way, experts estimated the Seahawks parade drew closer to 450,000 or so people - meaning every year Boston has a street party celebrating a foot race that makes Boston look like the Seahawks parade - every year.

2. "Menino was the classic party shill, the kind of go-along-to-get-along guy who puts his head down and hopes he doesn't get noticed." - Mayor Menino was the furthest thing from a keep his head down party shill. He was Boston's version of Chicago's Richard Daley. He ran a Boston party machine that ensured his continued re-election for 20 years and he left office only due to his ill health. During his time in office, his political power was both widely respected - and widely feared. You did not cross Menino - ever. He had zero fear of the City's police & firefighter unions. He shaped the City forever and had a hand in almost every major development project. When he took office, Boston was a partly tweedy college town married to townie recovering regional manufacturing center trying to figure out how to avoid getting stuck in second (or third) tier status forever. He completely reshaped downtown, including playing a major role in building an entire new neighborhood from scratch (the Seaport District - which is sort of Boston's SLU, except way more developed and far more complete) - as well as having overseen (and supported) Boston's evolution from the Irish townie City in Paul's head into a robust cosmopolitan & diverse city. Boston today is slightly over 50% African American, Latino & Asian. Whites are a minority in Boston.

3. "So Walsh threatening to boycott the St. Patrick's parade is tantamount to treason for some Bostonians. The fact that the mayor of one of the nation's largest cities is standing up against some guy who is proudly nicknamed "Wacko" is the height of political intrigue in Boston." - Actually, no. Mayor Menino boycotted the St. Patrick's Day Parade starting in...1994. For the exact same reasons. Except supporting the LGBT community back then by boycotting the Parade was a much bigger deal back then. Something the LGBT community recognized and appreciated - which is in part why the LGBT community in Boston were one of Menino's strongest supporters. He had their backs early on and it was reciprocated. (Mumbles Menino was also known as a very strong supporter of the immigrant community - having created an Office of New Bostonians to specifically provide linkages to City services for recent immigrants.) All Marty Walsh boycotting the parade is doing is signaling to the Good Ole Boys that just because he's an Irish kid from the Dot doesn't mean the clock is getting turned back to the 1980s. ALSO, you know who else is boycotting a St. Patrick's Day Parade because gays are barred from participating? NYC Mayor De Blasio. Bet you didn't know that NYC's St. Patrick's Day Parade also doesn't let LGBT Irish Americans march in their parade as well.

4. "I bet there are some uncomfortable conversations happening in Boston right now." - Actually, no. Bostonians in 2014 are strongly supportive of LGBT rights - and have been for quite a while. (See #3 above.) The reason Massachusetts legalized gay marriage a DECADE ago is because of strong grassroots support for LBGT rights - especially in Boston. When the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized gay marriage, the City of Boston (under direction from Menino) set up a giant tent in City Hall Plaza (along with a band) to celebrate and honor all the people lined up that first day for wedding licenses. And when the homophobic Westboro Church type protestors showed up (in a pathetically small number), Menino stuck them in a fenced off holding pen way off in a corner in the Plaza, far enough away so nobody could hear them. Then he had the music loudspeakers turned up for good measure.

Paul, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

How many Bostonians are even Irish? Now how many of those Irish Bostonians even give a flying fuck about Ireland any other day of the year?

I don't wear green or orange on that day. Either choice seems to rile people up for no good reason.