By April Drew and Cahir O’Doherty

NEW York Governor Eliot Spitzer, in his first year in office, will not march in this year’s New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17, the Irish Voice has learned, instead choosing to celebrate the holiday by taking part in a march in upstate Rochester.

It is understood that Spitzer will attend an Irish breakfast in Manhattan on the morning of the 17th. His final schedule for the day has yet to be released.

The march marks the first time in 12 years that the New York governor has not been represented in the New York City line of march. Previous office holder Governor George Pataki was a regular marcher up Fifth Avenue, and attended a variety of functions in the city, including the annual Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, prior to the parade’s start.

Though a source in the governor’s office refused to say if Spitzer was declining a place in the line of march in support of the continued exclusion of Irish gay groups, it is believed that the governor took this issue into consideration when making his decision not to participate. Spitzer has gone on record as a strong supporter of gay rights.

The New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade since 1991 has denied permission to Irish gay and lesbian groups to march under their own banner, and a series of court challenges have failed to remove the ban.

Organizers have consistently said they do not want to politicize the event, but critics see nothing but politics in their decisions concerning who marches on the day.

Sean Cahill, the Boston-born director of the national Gay and Lesbian Task Force, is disappointed by the lack of what he sees as any meaningful support of Irish political groups as well as Irish gay groups.

Says Cahill, “Irish Americans should be united in support for full implementation of the peace agreements, police reform, and Loyalist paramilitary disarmament in the North. The Fifth Avenue parade offers a perfect forum to address these issues. Unfortunately, its organizers insist it be apolitical, except when the politics are opposition to equal rights for gay people.”

Cahill, a native Bostonian, also criticized the New York Parade Committee pick for grand marshal, Ray Flynn. “When I lived in Boston and Ray Flynn was mayor, he was moderate on gay rights and a force for racial harmony. Since then, he has migrated to the fringes of the mostly evangelical Christian right,” he said.

The group called Irish Queers is planning a protest over the exclusion of gays from the line of march on the day at 10:30 a.m. at Fifth Avenue and West 58th Street.

“Ireland has come a very long way from the days when the church ran the show. But in New York City, we’re still under the thumb of old-school bigots,” said a press release from the group.

The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) volunteers were told last year that they would not be allowed march in the parade, and this year was no exception.

“It’s outrageous that organizers won’t allow us to march in our own parade,” commented Mary Brennan, a member of ILIR. “We were told that they don’t allow politically affiliated organizations too join.”

Brennan will join several more ILIR members as they stand at the sidelines of the parade wearing the Legalize the Irish t-shirts that thousands of people have come to know in the past year.

“We will stand at the sidelines and wear our t-shirt and if it was anything like last year, other parade visitors will also want a t-shirt,” said Brennan, in a hope of getting the word out to the general public that there are 50,000 undocumented Irish living under the radar in the U.S.

Irish immigration was also on the mind of Flynn, who told the Irish Voice how delighted he was to have been selected for the honor as Grand Marshal..

“For immigrant Irish men and women to painfully leave their families and travel across the Irish ocean with hope and courage in their hearts seeking opportunity. They were average people doing extraordinary things in America, building a nation,” he said.

“I’m very proud of my humble immigrant Irish roots. What it would be like for my parents and my grandparents to see that their son has become grand marshal of the greatest Irish celebration in the world today! I’m just humbled and proud knowing my ancestors have contributed so much to the building of this great nation.”