By Dustin Brown
Two years ago, Brendan Fay was inspired by division to call for unity.
Fay, an Astoria resident who emigrated from Ireland in 1984, founded the Queens St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 1999 in response to the repeated exclusion of gays and lesbians like himself from marching proudly down Fifth Avenue in the Manhattan celebration.
Proclaiming the themes of inclusion and diversity, the parade embraced people from Mexico to Korea as they came together to honor their connection to Irish heritage.
But as Fay prepares to march down Skillman Avenue from 43rd Street to 60th Street in the borough’s third annual inclusive parade Sunday, he finds the event that began as an alternative to Manhattan has grown well beyond its original britches. Today the parade stands by itself as a celebration of the borough’s diversity coming together in tribute to Irish pride.
“I think the parade is growing in stature in the community and beyond,” said Fay. “This parade most definitely has taken on a life of its own.”
For the first time the city’s mayor will march down Skillman Avenue in the parade — and even better, he gave a timely RSVP.
“I must say that one of the first politicians to respond to our invitation was the mayor,” Fay said. “That to me is indicative of his commitment to being a mayor for all New Yorkers.”
The parade will also host its first large contingent of marchers directly from Ireland in the form of firefighters and ambulance workers from four Irish towns who are honoring the city’s sacrifice on Sept. 11.
Fay said he and friends had been sitting over shepherd’s pie and tea at an Irish restaurant in Woodside when they together came up with the idea of creating a parade to which everyone is invited.
“Little did we know that out of that conversation would come a parade,” Fay said. “It says something about the gift of the city, the gift of this borough.”
Although the parade has made great strides since first pushing off along Skillman Avenue in 1999, the community responsible for putting it together has suffered grave losses as well.
Mychal Judge, the FDNY chaplain who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center, gave his blessing to the parade when he marched with the crowd of 4,000 two years ago.
“We’re in a new century in America now,” Judge had said at the time. “If we can’t all live and accept each other just as God has made us . . . well, then we’re never going to have peace.”
This year’s parade will honor the memory of all those who died on Sept. 11, but most notably the legacy of Judge, for the event captures his lifelong call for unity.
“He loved the St. Patrick’s Parade and every year actually marched in it,” Fay said of Judge’s regular participation in the Manhattan parade. “But somewhere it pained him that there was this issue of exclusion and division. He was always saying that we need to get along with one another.”
The parade has felt its share of negative publicity, most notably from Woodside Republican Club President Patrick Hurley, who said in a statement that the parade “twisted the tenets of Irish independence in its pathetic endeavor to impose its agenda.”
But Fay has a simple response to Hurley and other nay-sayers who oppose the parade.
“Come and see, come and participate,” Fay would like to tell them. “For all the parade’s weaknesses — and we constantly try to improve it — I bet that they will have a change of heart by the evening.”
The parade sets off at 1 p.m. Sunday from 43rd Street and will travel along Skillman Avenue to 60th Street.
For more information, go to www.stpatsforall.com or call 670-7039.
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
