Mayor Adams Celebrates Inclusive Decision to Welcome LGBTQ+ Community to March in Staten Island St. Patrick's Day Parade

November 12, 2024

Mayor Adams Supported First-Ever LGBTQ+ Inclusive
St. Patrick's Day Parade on Staten Island in March 2024

NEW YORK - New York City Mayor Eric Adams today celebrated a decision by the Richmond County St. Patrick's Day Parade committee to allow LGBTQ+ groups to march in the borough's annual celebration of Irish heritage for the first-time ever in 2025.

"From day one, our administration has been clear that celebrations in our city should be welcoming and inclusive, which is why we brought the community together, along with the Staten Island Business Outreach Center, to create the first-ever - and incredibly successful - fully-inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade on Staten Island earlier this year," said Mayor Adams. "We are thrilled that, this year, Staten Island's LGBTQ+ community will finally be welcome to march under their own banner in the Richmond County St. Patrick's Day Parade and we applaud the committee for coming to this decision, which was a long-time coming. Congratulations to the Staten Island community, including the Pride Center of Staten Island and the Lavender and Green Alliance, for their long advocacy for inclusion."

Earlier this year, Mayor Adams announced the first-ever LGBTQ+ inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade on Staten Island - which took place in March 2024 - bringing an end to a decades-long conflict. The longstanding Richmond County Staten Island St. Patrick's Day Parade is the last in the world to continue to prohibit the LGBTQ+ community from participation. Mayor Adams is the first mayor to participate in the March 2023 "Rainbow Run" in solidarity with the excluded LGBTQ+ community. In November 2022, Mayor Adams also became the first mayor in city history to visit the Pride Center of Staten Island.

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